In defence of Lucchesi, the original post does not contain enough detail to substantiate the assertion that this IS a recent UK wide phenomenon. It gives no indication of the geographic area or timescale over which this change is supposed to have happened. Furthermore, it does not give any detail of how usage of Google Streetview can be incorporated into robust research design to empirically verify this supposed trend. If this is something that is covered in your research module I for one, would be interested in hearing more.
Secondly, the post jumps from an unsubstantiated observation to a speculative explanation without really showing any link. As other posts have indicated there are multiple reasons why there might be caravans in fields. Other explanations might include those used by equine enthusiasts as storage etc, and certain localities where there is a density of people choosing to live 'outside' the system (i.e. connected to the phenomenon of 'New' Travellers). Now whilst it is possible that some caravans may be being used as 'quasi-temporary housing for seasonal low-paid likely expolited workers' it is not clear how this explanation is arrived at in the face of competing possibilities.
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To further add to Lucchesi's comments,
The caravan proliferation IS a recent phenomenon, in the UK anyway.,at least from my observations - I welcome other observations re this elsewhere in the world. Lucchesi doe not tell us which region they are from, so I cannot say what they might have observed. It is of course rather facile to say that 'rural poor / worker exploitation is ongoing' - I guess we all knew that - the subject was its more recent form, caravan accommodation.
I can only guess that either Lucchesi does not believe in empirical observation as a basis for starting theoretical analysis, or is rather poor at reading skills. Lucchesi, should you wish to book a session on the retail-research xection of my Retail VConsumer module, you are welocme to attend as visiting student in weeks 12,13 room M39 Harper Adams.
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Hello all,
I'm a recent addition to this forum, and have for the most part enjoyed reading the contributions made. That said, I felt it necessary to problematize Hillary Shaw's most recent email regarding peoples residing in informal housing in rural areas. As a current Geography student focused on rural geographies of power and violence, there are a number of points I would like to make:
First, the rhetoric of the post casts rural poor as a sudden and recent upcropping. This is factually incorrect. That Dr. Shaw would reference Marx is no surprise, but I am surprised that someone who references Marx is seemingly unaware of the fact that capitalism has not stopped exploiting the poor since Marx stopped writing. Rural or no--it is basic fact that the poor continue to be systematically exploited. The fact that Dr. Shaw is surprised to discover informal housing in the backwaters of his own country shows nothing but his own willful ignorance on the subject.
Second, the sarcastic jokes regarding informal housing in a discussion of inequality reveals the author's total disregard for the exploited he references...what a privilege to be able to joke about homelessness and chronic poverty! Furthermore, the sensationalist rhetoric in which the post is written likens rural poverty to a kind of epidemic that seems to have randomly manifested. Describing rural poverty in this way is dehumanizing and unprofessional.
Third, the post is written so as to make it seem that Dr. Shaw has recently discovered a subject of study imagined as both fantastical and trendy. Rural poverty is not a trending topic--it is a real, material, ongoing system of exploitation and violence. To describe it as anything less is to further dehumanize those living in these conditions.
Fourth, there is a gross level of essentialism at work, on multiple levels. Not all rural poor squat in caravans. This may seem obvious, but writing about the rural poor as mysteriously-appearing caravans collapses localized hierarchies and propagates prejudiced stereotypes grounded in urban and wealthy ignorance. Additionally, Dr. Shaw's post lacks any contextualization regarding issues of citizenship, race, or history. Any nuanced understanding of geographies of rural exploitation must take issues such as these into account.
It is my suggestion that those who are interested in studies of rural poverty and exploitation should venture away from the comfort of their desk, recognize that trawling Google Streetview is not an ethical method of ethnographic research, and discuss such topics of interest with those that actually live in these conditions--the rural poor themselves. Speaking for their plights while not attempting to dialog with them on their struggles is to further silence and oppress them.
Best,
Annita Lucchesi
Dr Hillary Shaw
School of Business, Management and Marketing
Harper Adams University College
Newport
Shropshire
TF10 8NB
On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 6:15 PM, Hillary Shaw <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
'Drive' down almost any rural lane, using Google Streetview (with its camera some 3 metres off the ground, it will see a lot more than you could) and before long you will see a caravan or three in the corner of a field behind a hedge, or tucked away in a barn a few tens of metres off the road. And a few hundred metres down, another...and another. Some parts of the UK must have several tens per square kilometre, that's maybe 100,000 or more across the nation. Now it's possible that British farmers have suddenly developed a taste for caravan holidays (and so as to spare any embarrasment, park them not by their house but in a remoter part of their land), or are these being used as quasi-temporary housing for seasonal low-paid likely expolited workers? Such workers have no real address, so likely no NI record, no council records, no employment rights, holiday pay or sick pay, maybe no access to educational or health services the rest of us take for granted in the UK.
It's less well known that Marx wrote a lot about 19c farm workers in Lincolnshire, he must have spent quite a lot of time observing this English county. Maybe we haven't moved on so much since then? Or am I misisng an opportunity selling 'Caravan Weekly' to the UK farming community?
Dr Hillary Shaw
School of Business, Management and Marketing
Harper Adams University College
Newport
Shropshire
TF10 8NB
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