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2nd Call for Papers

RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London, 31 August - 2 September 2011

New Family Population Geographies

Sponsored by the Population Geography Research Group of the RGS-IBG / Geographies of Children, Youth and Families Research Group of the RGS-IBG

According to Jane Jacobs (1987) 'the family is the fabric of society'. Yet, with evidence of new and diverse family populations, this once familiar fabric appears increasingly as a patch-work. The new fluidity and diversity of family composition, transition and distribution is clearly at odds with traditional notions of ‘the family’ which feature at the core of the coalition government ‘Big Society’ agenda. While geographers are well placed to inform and critique this agenda we wish to acknowledge in this session the significant challenges to be met, conceptually and analytically, before we can understand the social and geographic dimensions of the new family populations. 

As a conceptual term, 'the family' is widely used by human geographers often in taken-for-granted and diverse ways, such as a unit of analysis, in relation to social theory, or representing normative social constructions. Yet, limited attention is devoted to the shifting meanings and social underpinnings of the family, and how this is expressed in geographic ways. Arguably, contemporary processes of change are socio-spatially polarising particular types of family, and, in some instances, leading to the depopulation and disappearance of resident families from some neighbourhoods. Further unsettling what ‘the family’ means is evidence that the fastest growing demographics are one person and single parent households. With many people living alone, typically inhabiting homes designed to the idealised standards of the ‘single family dwelling’ there is growing concern in public health circles for the implications of a ‘lonely society’. Again, these new (non-family) populations conflict with the static and entrenched way that ‘family’ is mobilised in policy discourse and in the popular imagination. 

In this session we wish to acknowledge the fluidity and diversity of family forms and meanings while at the same time emphasising new methods and research directions which contribute the ‘ground truth’ necessary to make sense of the changes taking place. We wish to explore how the changing political and economic conditions may influence the ways in which 'families' are socially represented and geographically distributed. For example, papers might follow up such questions as: how might changes to the housing benefit payments transform the family geographies of the UK?; how might changes to school education and performance indicators reconfigure linkages between the clustering social classes and family structures? Papers are welcomed on any theme which deepens our understanding of the geographic dimensions of the family and family populations.

Expressions of interest should be sent to either: Darren P. Smith ([log in to unmask]) or Helen Jarvis ([log in to unmask]). Deadline for abstract submission (maximum 200 words) 17th February 2011.