If efforts to bolster the economy fail, the U.S.may have do what it preached to other nations: Wait it out.

If efforts to bolster the economy fail, the U.S.
may have do what it preached to other nations: Wait it out.



By Peter G. Gosselin, Los Angeles
Times Staff Writer



January 24, 2008



WASHINGTON --
In the 1990s, when Latin America and Asia
were rocked by financial crises similar to the one now dogging the United
States, Washington
officials were quick with stern advice: Don't bail out distressed banks. Don't
intervene when stock market and real estate bubbles pop. Let your overblown
economies shrink to their natural levels.



"It was all, 'You've got to be tough and take your
castor oil,' " said Joseph E. Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize-winning economist,
chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Clinton and former
vice president of the World Bank.



To date, U.S.
officials haven't followed any of the advice they so readily dispensed to
others. They have tried to aid troubled banks. They have slashed interest rates
to help the struggling housing and stock markets. They have made it clear that
they will go to extreme lengths to keep the American economy out of recession.



But if the current prescription fails to provide long-term
relief, what comes next? The answer, many economists say, could be that old
castor oil.



"People are going to have to buckle up their seat belts
and expect some dicey economic times for much of the year," said William
Grenier, chief investment officer at UMBS Management, a $12-billion asset
management firm in Kansas City, Mo.
"We're going to have to let the excesses wash out of the system."



Financial markets, battered in recent days on fears of a
sharp U.S.
economic downturn, showed signs of recovery Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial
average posted a gain of nearly 299 points, or 2.5%, after falling more than
300 points earlier in the trading session.



Coming a day after the Federal Reserve made the largest cut
in its key interest rate in more than two decades to buoy the financial system,
the rebound in share prices was greeted with great relief.



But as many economists and market players point out, the
nation's current economic problems have shown a disturbing tendency to outstrip
assessments of their dimensions.



If that continues, it could force officials to consider
stronger medicine than they have done -- perhaps even as strong as that they
previously advised other nations to take.



So far, the Fed has taken the lead in efforts to bolster the
economy from the effects of the housing bust and the resulting credit crunch
that has strained the financial system.



After months of limited interest rate cuts and experiments
with strategies for lending to cash-strapped banks, the Fed has begun easing
credit in earnest.



On Tuesday, it slashed three-quarters of a point off the
federal funds rate, the interest banks charge one another for short-term loans.
Veteran Fed watchers believe that policymakers will knock an additional point
or more off the rate in the coming months before they're finished.



That could take the funds rate from 5.25%, where it was in
September, to 2.25% or even lower. The rate is now 3.5%.



One problem with interest rate cuts as a solution to current
troubles, however, is that a principal route by which they are turned into
something that matters to ordinary people and spurs the economy is the housing
market.



And this time around, the housing market is a mess, with too
many properties for sale at prices that aren't sustainable. Cheaper mortgage
rates won't easily cure those excesses, experts say.



A second problem is that the institutions chiefly
responsible for transforming Fed cuts into lower borrowing rates -- the
nation's banks -- are deeply worried about their own finances because of
mortgage-related losses.



That may mean they'll be reluctant to pass along interest
savings to individuals via loan rates, lessening the salutary effects of Fed
action.



In addition to lower rates, President Bush and Democratic
congressional leaders are trying to fashion a package of temporary tax cuts and
spending increases designed to give the economy a quick boost.



Some in Congress want bolder steps. Several prominent
lawmakers proposed Wednesday that Washington
fashion 1930s-style investment programs to keep cash circulating -- for
example, by launching big public works projects or reviving a New Deal agency
that was created to stop home foreclosures.



Although he did not name a price tag, Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called for a new program to build roads, utilities, schools
and housing to boost employment and inject money into the economy.





Meanwhile, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Mark
Steven Kirk (R-Ill.) proposed re-creating a federal agency to help homeowners
refinance their homes.



Both are anathema to Bush and to budget hawks of both
parties who fear the cost and say they would take too long to make a
difference.



If Fed rate cuts are blunted by housing market weakness and
banks' hesitation to pass along interest savings, and new public spending or
tax cuts end up mired in politics or arrive too late, there may be no other
solution to the nation's troubles than perhaps the most painful one: time.



That was, in effect, what the U.S.
pushed on its Latin American and Asian counterparts during their crises. They
were advised to stop trying to shield markets and simply accept dismal
stretches for their economies while the problems sorted themselves out.





"The markets will find bottoms," said Robert E.
Litan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Who knows how long
it will take or how far they will have to fall? But they will find
bottoms."



He added, "It's depressing, but there may not be much
else to do" except wait.



The notion that the U.S.
may have to practice what it preached to other nations holds a rich irony for
many analysts.



"It's just amazing the hypocrisy in which the U.S.
has indulged," said Gary C. Hufbauer, a senior economist with the Peterson
Institute for International Economics in Washington.



"When other countries were causing financial
contagions, we verbally spanked them for the lack of transparency in their
financial systems and adequate regulations," he said.



Now that the U.S.
is the country causing the contagion -- with global stock markets plummeting
earlier this week on fears of spillover from the American economy's woes -- the
root of the problem turns out to be remarkably similar, Hufbauer said:
Financial institutions engaged in extraordinarily risky lending, using complex
mortgage securities that defied understanding, with lax or nonexistent
regulation.



America's
big bankers were supposed to be "so good at financial risk management,
they could regulate themselves," economist Stiglitz said. "It turns
out these guys did very bad risk analysis and have created a mess."



When Latin American and Asian countries found their finances
in an analogous mess in the 1990s, Stiglitz said, "we told them, 'You have
to face the pain. . . . You can't bail out people.' "



Most of those governments eventually let the turmoil take
its course. The countries recovered, but not before going through the economic
wringer -- for periods that in some cases lasted years.



peter.gosselin@latimes.com

Building heritage: cultures and sites of architectural conservation

Please distribute to anyone you know who might be interested - postgrad
contributions welcome.
Bronwen


Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual Conference, 27-29 August
2008, London


Call for papers


Building heritage: cultures and sites of architectural conservation

In the last decade we have talked a lot about heritage. Geographers have
contributed important knowledge about the complexities of searching for
and producing the partial and plural past in contemporary society. This
session is concerned with broadening our understanding of the
specifically architectural aspects of our 'cult' of heritage (Lowental
1998). It will explore the kinds of heritage produced in urban and rural
built landscapes, and in buildings ranging from the domestic and social,
to the commercial, industrial and military, buildings that are protected
and those that are neglected. We are particularly concerned with
identifying the contributions geographers can make to the current debate
about building conservation policy and practice. (Heritage Protection
for the 21st Century - White Paper 2007) The session is also motivated
by a desire for geography to engage more confidently with the aesthetics
and materiality of design, with surface and fabric as well as space.
This involves addressing the problematic, often hidden, role of 'taste'
and changing historical sensibilities within conservation processes and
cultures, and the ways in which theses are narrated and legitimised.

We invite new and established researchers working on all aspects
architectural heritage and the built landscape, in the UK and elsewhere,
to contribute to this session, especially those addressing the following
broad themes:

* geographies of architecture and conservation

* heritage activism: individual campaigning and preservation
societies

* custodians of built heritage, including government policy and
process

* built heritage and urban renewal: securing the future of cities

* tourism, leisure and historic architecture

* architectural heritage and sustainability

Session organisers: Bronwen Edwards and Ian Strange, Leeds Metropolitan
University.

Please send expressions of interest to: b.edwards@leedsmet.ac.uk

Titles and abstracts (200 words) to b.edwards@leedsmet.ac.uk by Friday
8th Feb


Dr Bronwen Edwards

Senior Lecturer in Human Geography
Leeds Metropolitan University
School of the Built Environment
Northern Terrace
Queen Square Court
Civic Quarter
Leeds
LS2 8AJ

tel: 0113 8129157

fax: 0113 8121958

email: b.edwards@leedsmet.ac.uk

Coal mine closes with celebration

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7200432.stm

The Creative Industries: Ten Years After

The Creative Industries: Ten Years After
A one day symposium

Wednesday 27 February 2008
Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes.
Central Meeting Room 1

Organisers
Mark Banks, Department of Sociology/CRESC, The Open University
Justin O'Connor, Cultural and Media Industries Research Centre, University of Leeds.

In 1998 the recently created UK Department of Culture, Media and Sport added some popular glamour to New Labour’s modernising agenda by placing the newly named ‘creative industries’ – media, design and arts based enterprises - at the heart of the nation’s economic future. Very quickly the notion of ‘creative industries’ became a glittering ‘jewel in the crown’ of New Labour’s vision. The antecedents of 'creative industries', the so-called 'cultural industries' of the 1970s and 80s were carefully steered from view, as the use of the term 'creative industries' signalled a desire to harness cultural production to the new economic agenda.

What has happened in the decade since 1997? On the one hand the creative industries can be seen to have gone from strength to strength. The DCMS has re-launched its creative industry strategy with renewed vigour. The Creative Economy Programme sets out an ambitious strategy which once again places the creative industries at the heart of the UK’s economic future. The ‘UK model’ has been internationally exported, across Europe, and into territories as diverse as Australia, China and South Korea, shaping and being shaped by pre-existing policy frameworks, contributing to the rapid globalization of creative industry debate. Yet there are some hard questions to be asked and key issues to be addressed – this symposium attempts to address these issues and in doing so take forward an agenda for critical debate on the creative industries.

A series of invited key speakers will address the following themes:

• the historical formation and context of 'creative' industries;
• creative industry policy and the legacy of ‘New Labour’;
• creative industries and local and regional development;
• creative industries in comparative international contexts;
• the changing politics of creativity and creative industry work ;
• the future policy agenda for creative industries.

Speakers include: Justin O’Connor, David Hesmondhalgh (Leeds), Andy Pratt (LSE), Kate Oakley (City), Chris Bilton (Warwick), Mark Banks, Jason Toynbee (Open).

Attendance is free for Open University and CRESC students and staff, with a nominal charge of £15 for external attendees (coffee and lunch provided). Please contact Karen Ho k.d.ho@open.ac.uk by February 15th if you wish to register for this event.

Urban Planning and Design in Post Liberalization Era - India

The School of City and Regional Planning are hosting a seminar:

Tuesday 29th January 2008 starts at 5pm
Cardiff University, School of City and Regional Planning, Glamorgan Building, Room 1.67

Urban Planning and Design in Post Liberalization Era - India

Professor Utpal Sharma
Dean, School of Planning and Public Policy, CEPT University, India

The presentation will dwell on the following two cases ...

Post Liberalization the Indian Economy has been growing at an average rate of 8% per annum. New
businessmen, trade production, manufacturing and knowledge centres are shifting to India, thus
putting great demands on the availability of real estate in metros and other tire II and III cities.
The government policies have also liberalized to allow FDI and setting up of SEZ at attractive
terms.

In this context, Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) was designed as an alternate CBD at Mumbia, covering
land area of 1.66 Ha. The project was initiated by the government to develop a strategic and
environmentally sensitive area to support 120,000 jobs. Currently many major financial institutions
and Multi National Companies (MNC) have their offices at BKC.

On the other hand old cities like Jaipur are being revitalized to respond to the changing economy
and tourist pressure. Jaipur being a part of the golden triangle tourist circuit attracts 40% of
the tourists who come to india. Jaipur is also known for being the old planned city having wide
roads, city squares and public spaces. Over the years the city has deteriorated due to lack of
services and physical infrastructure. Residences have moved out and residential areas have been
converted to warehouses and small scale production units. Under the JNNURM it is proposed to
revitalise the city so that it retains its original character.

The presentation starts at 5pm in Room 1.67 of the Glamorgan Building.
All are welcome.

If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards ... Margaret








Mrs Margaret Roberts
Cardiff University
School of City and Regional Planning
Glamorgan Building (Room 2.59)
King Edward VII Avenue
Cardiff CF10 3WA
Tel: +44 (0)29 2087 4882
Fax: +44 (0)29 2087 4845
E: RobertsM3@cardiff.ac.uk

Geographies of Social Enterprise: CFP

Call for papers: RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, 27-29 August 2008

Geographies of Social Enterprise
Session Conveners:
Laura Fry, Research Associate, UnLtd
Lea Esterhuizen, Head of Research, UnLtd
Dr Mordechai (Muki) Haklay, UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

Social enterprise and social entrepreneurship have grown in quantity and strength in the last decade in the UK. Positioned within ‘Third Sector’ social enterprises are characterised by their business-like approach to social action and have grown in the UK under New Labour. The relevance of social enterprise to Geography has previously been by-passed by particular discourses that debate the political-economic and socio-economic nature of non-state, non-commercial organisations - namely volunteer or non-profit organisations. This work helps to define and map the landscape of the Third sector but is yet to give adequate attention to organisations and individuals who use their entrepreneurial ideas to deliver social change while aiming to be financially sustainable.

There is a need for more social and cultural geographers to examine the nature and emergence of social enterprise/entrepreneurship in the UK. Whilst some work has explored the interrelationships between people, place and volunteering (Milligan, 2007), work on social enterprise/entrepreneurship in this field is scarce. Social entrepreneurs identify social need at the local, national and global scales; generate interest from a variety of social, cultural, economic and political spheres; and create tangible/intangible social impacts on individuals, communities, and cultures through their encounters with people, environment and place.

For social and cultural geography, social entrepreneurs not only present the opportunity to revive long-standing debates over agency, community, citizenship, space and place but also to make contributions to recent work on mobility, diasporic geographies, geographies of enchantment and especially to rethink the links between modes of economic activity and the creation of social goods.

This session aims to move current debates in geography, e.g. within geographies of volunteerism, forward by looking at individuals as drivers of social change from a new perspective. This is also pertinent given that social entrepreneurship/enterprise is fast becoming the major force of change in UK society. This session stems from a collaborative research between UCL and a leading supporter of social entrepreneurs (UnLtd), and we want to create a forum for debate about the emergence of and contribution to be made by geographies of social enterprise.

We invite proposals from geographers to present papers on:
• Geographical patterns of social entrepreneurial activities
• The role of Social Enterprise, Voluntarism and Charities in shaping places
• The concepts of space within the third sector, and how its geometry changes as result of social enterprise
• The merits and demerits of mapping social impact
• The relevance of non-spatial mapping to better understand social entrepreneurial activity.

Please send expressions of interest to both m.haklay@ucl.ac.uk and LauraFry@unltd.org.uk

Deadline for title and abstracts (c. 200 words): 10 February 2008

This session is part of two planned sessions about Social Enterprise. The second one is a closed session organise by Dr. Sarah-Anne Munoz, which will focus on Social Enterprise, Social Theory and Geographies of Empowerment.

CGLR Seminar - 14th Febraury

Union campaigning and organising around major sports events


You are invited to a seminar jointly sponsored by Cardiff University’s Centre for Global Labour Research and the Wales TUC. With an eye on the lead up to the London Olympics in 2012 and the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010, this seminar brings together two labour movement experts to draw on the experience of labour in campaigning and organising around major sports events – both within the host country and along the supply chain. The seminar is part of a Global Labour University research project.

Speakers:

The lessons of the Atlanta Olympics

Stewart Acuff, AFL-CIO Organising Director

Before becoming head of organising at the AFL-CIO, Stewart Acuff was President of the Atlanta Central Labor Council and played a key role in the union campaign around the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, leading the union negotiations with the Olympics committee.

Campaigning in the sportswear sector: Play Fair 2008

Doug Miller, Multinationals Project Coordinator, International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF)

Doug Miller is one of the leading trade union campaigners involved in the Play Fair 2008 coalition with the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Initially working around the Athens Olympics, Play Fair 2008 is focused on the Beijing Games, leading the campaign to pressurise sportswear and athletic footwear companies, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), National Olympics Committees, as well as national governments to take steps to eliminate the exploitation and abuse of workers in the global sporting goods industry.

Time and place:

12.00-2.00 pm, Thursday, 14 February 2008.

Committee Room 1, Glamorgan Building

King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff

Details of how to find us are here: http://www.cf.ac.uk/locations/index.html

The event is free, but registration is required. If you wish to attend please email Sian Moseley at MoseleySE@cardiff.ac.uk or telephone on 029 2087 4983. A buffet lunch will be provided.

Medicine and Society Research Interest Group: Seminar Program

Medicine and Society Research Interest Group

MASRiG

4-5pm

The Glamorgan Building

Room -1.79

SPRING MEETINGS 2008
6th February


Alexandra Hillman (Qualiti, Cardiff School of Social Sciences)
‘Sorting Things Out’: The Performance of Real Emergency Medicine



5th March

Roberta Bivins (School of History and Archaeology)

'Contagious Communities: Ethnicity and Identity in the UK and US, 1955-1985'


2nd April

Geoffrey Samuel (School of Religious and Theological Studies)
'Beyond Biomedical Assimilation?'



7th May

Ingrid Geesink (ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics)
'Sociologies of tissue and cell culture'



4th June

Mara Miele (CPlan)
Producing slim bodies

Higher Education Research - Forthcoming ECS Research Group Seminar

Colleagues - Welcome to 2008! Here is advance notice of three seminars over the next few weeks. As
these seminars are all based on the Higher Education sector I thought that it would be appropriate
to circulate to all SOCSI staff.

1. Next Wednesday (23rd Jan) at 1.00-2.00pm Prof Sally Power will be talking about 'Comprehensive
Schools and Elite University Entry'. This seminar will be in room -1.77 (Glamorgan Building).

2. In addition to our monthly lunchtime seminar (and due to popular demand) Dr Neil Selwyn will be
back in Cardiff on Thursday 31st January to present: '"omg tha Neil Selwyn bloke is a cock!" -
exploring students' educational use of Facebook' (full abstract below). This seminar will be in
-1.56 (Glamorgan Building).

3. The last in the current series of Cardiff University Education Research Seminars (organised
jointly with the Welsh Assembly Government) is on Wednesday 6th February at 4.00-5.30pm. Professor
John Fitz and Dr Chris Taylor will be presenting their research on 'Widening Participation in Higher
Education'. This public seminar will be held in the Council Chamber (Glamorgan Building). Professor
Miriam David from the Institute of Education, University of London, will be the discussant.

Please make every effort to attend these seminars. And feel free to pass on details of these to
anyone you think may be interested.

Best wishes
Chris

Neil's Abstract
"omg tha Neil Selwyn bloke is a cock!" - exploring students' educational use of Facebook
Abstract: Facebook has been the social networking success story of recent years - especially
amongst populations of university students for whom the application was initially developed. With
the majority of university students actively maintaining profiles, educationalists are currently
exploring the potential of Facebook as an educational application. Growing numbers of educators
are
celebrating the potential of Facebook to (re)engage students with their studies, whilst other
commentators fear that Facebook compromises students' engagement with traditional university
education.

Criticising Housing Policy

A group of us here in Scotland have put together a response to the
Scottish Government's recent Housing Green Paper which we will be
submitting to them by the 25th January deadline. If you are interested
in these issues - and especially, but not only, if you work in
Scotland - would you be interested in reading it and possible adding
your name to the list of signatures? If so, please contact Sarah Glynn
directly on Sarah.Glynn@ed.ac.uk, giving your name and designation as
you would like it to appear on the document.
You can read our response on:
http://www.geos.ed.ac.uk/homes/sglynn/Firm_Foundations.pdf

Producing health: widening perspectives

RGS-IBG 2008 Annual Conference 27th-29th August 2008
SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS

Producing health: widening perspectives.
(sponsored by the Geography of Health Research Group)

Organisers: Jennifer Lea and Chris Philo (University of Glasgow)

Session Abstract:

This session is intended to bring together health, social, cultural,
political, economic and historical geographers to discuss the 'production'
of health. Although health has become a crucial term for a wide range of
geographers, the balance of analysis has tended towards the measurement of
health variations, evaluations of 'healthy' landscapes and experiencing of
'unhealthy' lives. This focus has nonetheless left health itself, as a
concept, outcome and experience, relatively unproblematised. This session
aims to take health apart, and to begin understanding it as a practiced
negotiation – between a range of institutional and individual agents, within
a diversity of networks and assemblages – rather than an assumed, and indeed
absolute concept. This gives rise to questions such as how the
health/non-health boundary is produced and maintained, what kinds of effort
are involved in maintaining the socio-technical relations implicated in
producing health, and who (human, non-human, in-human, more-than-human), is
involved in producing health?

In suggesting that health is produced across a number of registers
(arrangements of bodies, minds, objects, technologies, architectures, words,
questions, responses, medication, etc), the session moves against the
isolating of the political, economic, social, cultural etc. as discrete
explanatory realms. We wonder what theoretical and practical resources
contributors might find useful to deliver a more 'distributed' examination
of the production of health, allowing us to think beyond sub-disciplinary
locations. In particular, we call for papers from both early career and more
established researchers that address the following themes and questions:

Themes

- The relation between producing health and geographic context
- The production and maintenance of health
- Futures of the production of health
- The material effects of producing health (body-mind interrelations)
- The spatial and temporal differences in modes of producing health

Questions

- what matters in the production of health (for example political contexts,
ideologies, practices, the built environment), and how have these varied
over time and space?
- which agencies are implicated in producing health (individuals, groups,
human, non-human, more-than-human)?
- how do modes of producing "health" differ - culturally, politically,
economically, medically etc.
- how is the production of 'health' variously extended (through alternative
imaginations of health, new practices of producing health, the changing
demands of socio-cultural-political terrains)

Please send expressions of interest to jennifer.lea@ges.gla.ac.uk

Deadline for abstracts (c.200 words) 1st February 2008. Please see
http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International+Conference/Submit+an+abstract.htm
for more details.

For more information about the conference please see
http://www.rgs.org/WhatsOn/ConferencesAndSeminars/Annual+International+Conference/Annual+International+Conference.htm

Leverhulme Programme on Migration and Citizenship

Apologies for Cross-Posting

Leverhulme Programme on Migration and Citizenship

Joint Research Programme by Bristol University's Centre for the Study of
Ethnicity and Citizenship and UCL's Migration Research Unit

Mobility in International Labour Markets

15-16 May, 2008

University College London, UK
_____________________________________________________________________

CALL FOR PAPERS

We are inviting scholars from all relevant disciplines to submit papers for
this conference.

The last decade has seen fundamental change in both the scale and nature of
labour immigration to the UK at a time of increasing globalisation. Within
this context, migration itself may be conceptualised as a business,
characterised by the interaction of a range of institutions such as
employers, universities, professional bodies and people smugglers as well
as migrants. With economic globalisation have come new or enhanced forms of
migration, with their own mobility systems and with important consequences
for the migrants themselves, for those with a migrant origin and for host
communities. The conference will present the latest research in a bid to
identify more clearly the processes at work, together with their wider
implications.

This conference will address issues based on the following themes:

* International mobility in a global economy
* Human smuggling and irregular work
* Youth labour markets and ethnicity
* International researcher mobility
* Mobility amongst the highly skilled
* International student mobility

The Leverhulme Programme on Migration and Citizenship at the University of
Bristol and University College London (2003-08) consists of eight projects
on contemporary labour mobility, post-immigration ethnicity and challenges
to British national identity. This is one of two conferences that will take
place in 2008 as the Programme reaches its conclusion (the second to be
held in November will focus on ethnicity, integration and national
identity).

Further details of the Programme can be found at
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sociology/leverhulme

Please send your abstract (no more than 250 words) to Sara Tonge
(sara.tonge@bristol.ac.uk)
Deadline for submissions: 14th February 2008

Please forward to anyone you think may be interested.

Flying While Muslim": Racial Profiling Post-9/11

Flying While Muslim": Racial Profiling Post-9/11

Film Description
Before 2001, the phrase "racial profiling" evoked images of young African-American men, stopped while driving because of the color of their skin. But since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Muslim Americans have come under intense scrutiny from the media, law enforcement agencies, and their fellow citizens. Many say they have been subjected to profiling and discrimination on the basis of their faith - making them feel like strangers in their own country.
http://www.linktv.org/onenation/films/view/3

LATEST NEWS FROM QUALITI - A NODE OF THE ESRC NATIONAL CENTRE FOR RESEARCH METHODS

LATEST NEWS FROM QUALITI - A NODE OF THE ESRC NATIONAL CENTRE FOR RESEARCH METHODS


ADVANCING THE USE OF VISUAL METHODS IN RESEARCH ON CHILDREN'S CULTURES
Date: Wednesday 16 April 2008
Venue: Glamorgan Building, Cardiff University

This one-day seminar event will focus on advancing our use of visual methods in research projects
that focus on children’s cultural worlds. A number of researchers have begun to use visual methods
in research of this nature, but questions surrounding issues of anonymity, representation, age and
participation still remain. This event will aim to explore these issues in an in-depth manner
through a range of presentations that directly draw on research projects that have used visual
methods. . For further details and booking information visit the website
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/qualiti/VisualMethodsSeminar/VisMethodsSeminar.html


*****************************************************************************

QUALITI TRAINING WORKSHOP SERIES

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/qualiti/Workshops/workshops08.html


USING NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Date: Wednesday 30 April 2008
Venue: Glamorgan Building, Cardiff University, Cardiff
This workshop will provide hands-on practical experiences in using different technologies and
equipment for the collection of qualitative data.

MULTIMODAL QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Dates: Thursday 1 - Friday 2 May 2008
Venue: Glamorgan Building, Cardiff University, Cardiff
This is a two-day workshop that will encompass the collection and analysis of multiple modes of
qualitative research data.

Please note: we recommend that participants attend both the 'Using new technologies' and
'Multi-modal' workshops in order to gain the most from these events.


*****************************************************************************

LATEST ISSUE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCHER DUE EARLY FEBRUARY
The latest issue of Qualitative Researcher is due to published early February. Contributors to the
edition include: Stewart Muir - University of Manchester, Stephen Burgess - Cardiff University,
Louise Purbrick - Brighton University and Alex Hillman - Cardiff University Issue 7 will be
available for download from the website in February.
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/qualiti/qualitative_researcher.html


*****************************************************************************

QUALITI WORKING PAPER SERIES
The latest Qualiti Working Paper is now available. Number four in the series is entitled
'Documents of life and death: Identities beyond the life course in coroners' suicide files' and
draws from the Qualiti project 'Gendered Suicide'. All Qualiti Working Papers are available for
download from the website.
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/qualiti/WorkingPapers/WorkingPaperHome.html


*****************************************************************************

For further information about Qualiti activities please contact the project office at:

QUALITI
Qualitative Research Methods in the Social Sciences:
Innovation, Integration and Impact
Cardiff School of Social Sciences
Cardiff University
King Edward VII Avenue
Cardiff
CF10 3WT

Tel +44 (0) 2920 875345
Fax +44 (0) 2920 874759

Email: qualiti@cardiff.ac.uk
www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/qualiti

'A deafening silence:Hidden violence against women and children', by Patrizia Romito - NEW BOOK

The Policy Press has just published a new book, 'A deafening silence:
Hidden violence against women and children', by Patrizia Romito. I am sure
that this title will be of interest to members of this list.

This book analyses male violence against women and children, and the
mechanisms society develops to push it out of sight. For more information
please see:
https://www.policypress.org.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1320

With thanks and best regards,

Jessica

Policy Press books can be ordered from our website
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Employability and Labour Market Policy in International Perspective

APOLOGIES FOR CROSS-POSTING

Colleagues are welcome to attend the second seminar of the Regional Studies Association Working Group on “Employability and Labour Market Policy in International Perspective”. The one-day seminar will be held at Universidad Complutense, Madrid on Friday 7th March. The programme is below. Â

Attendance is free. Please note that a small number of travel expenses bursaries (up to a maximum value of €150) are available for research students who wish to attend. Please register by e-mailing: c.lindsay@napier.ac.uk   Â

REGIONAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION WORKING GROUP
EMPLOYABILITY AND LABOUR MARKET POLICY IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE


SEMINAR AT FACULTY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES,
 UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE, MADRID, SPAIN


Friday 7th March 2008



1000-1045

Melina Young

Independent Researcher, Toronto, Canada

Labour market integration of high-skilled immigrants: maximising knowledge

spill-over in Toronto, Canada



1045-1130

David Etherington

Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research, Middlesex University, UK

Martin Jones

Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Aberystwyth, UK

World class skills? Governance geographies and the delivery of lifelong learning



1145-1230

Michael Anyadike-Danes

Economic Research Institute of Northern Ireland, Belfast, UK

What is the problem, exactly? Investigating the distribution of Incapacity Benefit claimants’ conditions across British regions



1230-1315

Colin Lindsay

Employment Research Institute, Napier University, Edinburgh, UK

Developing services to tackle health-related barriers to employability: reflections on the UK experience



Lunch 1315-1415



1415-1500

Almudena Moreno and Enrique Crespo
Departamento de Sociología y Trabajo Social, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain
Employment and social exclusion of women and young people in Spain



1500-1545

Ron McQuaid, Vanesa Fuertes and Sue Bond

Employment Research Institute, Napier University, Edinburgh, UK

Working for Families: Tackling barriers to employability among parents in Scotland



1600-1645

Maria Paz Martin Martin

Faculty of Political Sciences and Sociology, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain

The social construction of employability at the local level

Cultural Political Economy and Critical Discourse Analysis

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Just thought you might know colleagues/students who might be interested
in critical discourse analysis and cultural political economy. The
Lancaster Institute for Advanced Studies will run a Summer School on
Critical Discourse Analysis and Social Research between June 30 - July 4
2008. This is aimed at PhD students, post-docs and academic staff at an
early career stage. The tutors are Professor Bob Jessop, Dr Ngai-Ling
Sum, Professor Ruth Wodak and Professor Norman Fairclough. Full details
can be obtained at: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/ias/event/2130/
I'd be grateful if you could pass this on to anyone you think it might
interest.
Best wishes,
Ngai-Ling

Inclusion - research vacancies

Inclusion has advertised vacancies for a Deputy Director of Research and
Senior Researchers - closing date is 6th February. Please bring the
attached advert to the notice of anyone who may be interested.

Inclusion is a growing independent organisation committed to addressing
the challenge of social exclusion, particularly worklessness. We need new
staff to help us deliver our growing research and consultancy business. We
deliver quantitative and qualitative research for a number of central
government departments and agencies as well as regional bodies, local
authorities and other commissioners of research.

Full details about these posts, how to apply and the application packs can
be found at http://www.cesi.org.uk/site/listvacall.asp To receive an
application pack by post or email please call Jade Onofrio on 020 7582
7221 or email jade.onofrio@cesi.org.uk marking ‘recruitment’ in the
subject heading and clearly stating which post you are interested in.
The deadline for all applications is 6 February 2008.

New biomedical geographies of disability and chronic

Please see below a CALL FOR PAPERS for a session at the RGS-IBG Annual
Conference, London, 27-29 August 2008. Please circulate widely.

Session title: New biomedical geographies of disability and chronic
illness

Organisers: Ed Hall, University of Dundee and Isabel Dyck, Queen Mary,
London

Sponsored by: Geography of Health Research Group

In recent years, a whole new set of medical technologies have emerged
with which to diagnose, assess, treat and reshape the bodies of people
with disabilities, chronic illnesses and mental health problems. From
pre-natal diagnosis of particular disabilities, abnormalities and even
chronic illnesses, and biomedical and genetic screening and testing
for
disabilities and illnesses, to pharmaceutical treatments for mental
health conditions and surgical procedures and appliances to
‘correct’ abnormal body shapes and movements, biomedicine is
maintaining and arguably extending its dominance of the discourse of
health and disability. This is despite a decade or more of emphasis on
the social and spatial contexts and structures within which bodies and
health are constructed.

This session will seek to examine the nature and extent of biomedical
imaginings of the ill and disabled body, covering the following
questions:

- What is the role of biomedicine in (re)producing disability and
chronic illness?
- What are the implications of biomedical discourse and institutions
in the technocratic processes through disability is categorised and
legitimised and, further, how does this biomedical power mediate
access
to resources by disabled and chronically ill people?
- What techniques and practices is biomedicine using to diagnose,
treat
and shape ill and disabled bodies?
- What role does medical technology play in the lifecourses of
disabled
people and those with chronic illness?
- Is the social constructionist understanding of disability and
chronic
illness being replaced by a resurgent biomedicine?
- How are patients, illness groups and disability organisations
resisting these new developments?

Please submit a short abstract (250 words maximum) to both Ed Hall
(e.c.hall@dundee.ac.uk) and Isabel Dyck (i.dyck@qmul.ac.uk) by 8
February 2008 if you are interested in participating in the session.

REPRESENTING ISLAM: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES

CALL FOR PAPERS

REPRESENTING ISLAM: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES

International Conference, University of Manchester, 5-6 September 2008

We invite single-paper and full-panel proposals for the conference
‘Representing Islam: Comparative Perspectives’ organised jointly by the
Universities of Manchester and Surrey and supported by the Arts and
Humanities Research Council of Britain.

Representations of ‘Islam’ have a profound influence on political cultures
and national identities, as well as on attitudes to immigration, security
and multiculturalism. The complexity of the notion of ‘Islam’ and the
heterogeneous responses that it elicits are such that there is no uniform
approach to its representation and social construction. The conference
addresses this complexity by treating the comparative dimension of recent
representations of Islam, encompassing different nations, political
institutions, media institutions, and cultures. The conference will be
primarily concerned with the press, television, radio, film and the
internet, but may include other channels of communication, such as
translations, speeches or pamphlets, political discourse, and the visual arts.

The comparative emphasis will be achieved at several levels: that of the
single paper, that of the panel, and that of the conference as a whole.
Papers and panels are therefore invited treating single nations or media
outlets, or adopting a comparative perspective.

We anticipate proposals on topics emanating from the fields of Political
Communication, Communication Science, Media Studies, Film Studies, Cultural
Studies, Sociology, Social Psychology, Translation Studies,
Sociolinguistics, and Modern Languages.

Confirmed plenary speakers:
• Thomas Deltombe (France, journalist)
• Alisher Khamidov (Kyrgyzstan, journalist)
• Kenan Malik (England, writer and broadcaster)
• Prof Tariq Modood (England, Bristol University)
• Prof Greg Philo (Scotland, Glasgow University Media Unit)
• Dr. Elizabeth Poole (England, Staffordshire University)
• Prof Tariq Ramadan (England, France, academic and theologian)

An edited volume based on selected conference papers will be published.

Accommodation and meals will be provided on campus at the University of
Manchester. The conference fee will be discounted for students.

Conference website (containing the form for sending in abstracts):

http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/research/centres/cres/events/representing_islam/

Please send panel and paper proposals (title + 250 word abstract) by January
31, 2008 to these two e-mail addresses: Oxana.Poberejnaia@manchester.ac.uk
and Shishir.Shahnawaz@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
You can expect to hear of the organising committee’s decision on accepting
your abstract by March 15.

Conference Organisers: Professor Stephen Hutchings, Dr Galina Miazhevich
(University of Manchester); Professor Chris Flood, Dr Henri Nickels
(University of Surrey).

The Right to the City: new challenges, new issues

The Right to the City: new challenges, new issues
Vadstena Klosterhotell, Vadstena, Sweden
11-15 October 2008
Chair: Bernard Jouve, University of Lyon, France
Vice-Chair: Mark Purcell, University of Washington, US

Deadline for abstract submission: June 6th 2008

Full details are available here: http://www.esf.org/activities/esf-conferences/details/confdetail264.html?conf=264

Overview:
Preliminary Programme
As it has been largely documented, modern states are facing political rescaling processes in which
the roles and functions of the different levels of government are evolving. Thus city-regions are
becoming central economic and political territories in which a new division of labour is occurring
between the states and the local authorities. This tendency has been particularly analysed by the
economic literature but also by geography, sociology and political science. At the same time, there
is a large literature on the general tendency towards the pluralization of urban decision systems in
different institutional, cultural, political and economic contexts. To say it briefly, these processes
(i.e. political rescaling and participative democracy at local level) generate a new "right to the city":
the capacity to influence the agendas of urban public institutions by using "appropriate" demands
based on the formulation of rights recognized as legitimate by urban institutions. The on-going
process of the constitution of an "urban citizenship" involves a set of social demands which are, by
definition, contradictory in that sense that the "right to the city" must be linked to the social groups
and classes using it in order to organize themselves, to generate collective identity and collective
action. The work program of the Conference addresses a number of empirical subjects, all vectors
of a "right to the city". Its objective is to compare the effects of these dynamics on the content of
urban policies and on the transformation of citizenship regimes.

ESF Research Conferences provide the opportunity for the world's leading scientists and other
participants, including young researchers, to meet informally for discussions at the highest level on
the most recent developments in their fields of research. They act as a catalyst for creating new
synergistic contacts throughout Europe and the rest of the world. This conference will be of interest
to academic and policy researchers in the field of higher education and to researchers in other
relevant social science fields, e.g. science policy, regional development, governance, social equity.
The conference will take place at Vadstena Klosterhotel, located in a lovely natural setting on the
shores of beautiful lake Vättern, offering comfortable accommodation in a historic environment.
During the Middle Ages, Vadstena was the location of a catholic monastery for monks and nuns of
the Birgittine order and nowadays the conference center and hotel is largely located in the same
medieval buildings that were once the monastery.
Invited Speakers will include
Ernesto d'Albergo
University of Rome, IT
The right to the city and the role of national
policies
Eugene McCann
Simon Fraser University, CA
Down here: situatedness, empowerement, and drug policy in
Vancouver, British Columbia
Rob Atkinson
University of the West of England, UK
The renaissance of urban areas: democracy,
community and everyday-life
Don Mitchell, Syracuse University, US and
Lynn Staeheli, Edinburgh University, UK
Rights to the city on the hill
Nuria Benach
University of Barcelona, ES
The impact of global flows on the meanings of
urban places and the right to the (imagined)
city
Ulrich Muckenberger
Hamburg University, DE
The right to an adequate urban time organisation - a
necessary component of urban citizenship in a postfordist
society

Mustafa Benletaeif
University of Tunis, TN
The right to the city in the urban policies in
Tunisia
Ludek Sykora
Charles University, CZ
Competition, cohesion and access to urban services
Nick Blomley
Simon Fraser University, CA
Public Space, civil engineering and the
deactivation of the right to the city
Erik Swyngedouw
University of Manchester, UK
The Antinomies of the Post-Political City: Questioning the
Political Right to the City
Kevin Cox
Ohio State University, US
Class, stratum and struggle for the city
Catherine Trudelle
Université du Québec à Montréal, CA
Collective action in cities: protest events and conflicts as
agents of human development?
Adrian Kearns
University of Glasgow, UK
Defining and Implementing Community Ownership
Empowerment: Policy Failure or Policy Evolution?

WOMEN, PUBLIC ART AND THE CITY

WOMEN, PUBLIC ART AND THE CITY
London Women and Planning Forum Seminar
LCACE ‘Building Cultures’ seminar series

Wednesday 20th February 2008, 1:45-5:30pm

Registration Room 126, Department of Geography, Queen Mary,
University of London, Mile End Road, E1 4NS

Public art plays an important part in urban change and regeneration.
Spanning a wide variety of forms and practices, and reflecting diverse
collaborations between artists, architects, urban designers and local
communities, public art projects seek to enhance the quality of urban
life and the urban environment.

This seminar will address public art as both site and subject for art
by
women and the ways in which public art – and art about public space -
can enhance women’s lives in the city. It will consider the roles of
women as artists working in the public realm, women’s experiences of
public art, and the involvement of women in community consultation and
the commissioning of public art projects. The seminar will consider
feminist art practice in and about the public realm and the ways in
which women and men might produce and experience public art in
different
ways.

Cameron Cartiere will speak about the ‘Manifesto of Possibilities:
Commissioning Public Art in the Urban Environment’ (to be launched on
31
January 2008); Liza Fior will discuss the work of Muf on art and
architecture in the public realm; Anne Thorne will speak about her
experiences as an architect working in public art projects; and artist
Abigail Reynolds will discuss her ‘Mount Fear’ project, which models
the
frequency and location of urban crime.

1:30 Registration – Tea/coffee

1:45 Welcome – Alison Blunt – LWPF Chair

2:00 Cameron Cartiere, Arts Management, Birkbeck, University of
London
www.manifestoofpossibilities.co.uk

2:30 Liza Fior, Muf
www.muf.co.uk

3:00 Break

3:15 Anne Thorne, Anne Thorne Architects Partnership
www.annethornearchitects.co.uk

3:45 Abigail Reynolds, Ruskin School, University of Oxford
www.abigailreynolds.com

4.15 Jill Fenton, Department of Geography, QMUL: discussant

4.30 Discussion

5.00 Drinks reception

The seminar is free but space is limited. To reserve a place please
contact the London Women and Planning Forum administrator, Felicity
Paynter at f.paynter@qmul.ac.uk or Department of Geography, Queen Mary
University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS. See
www.lwpf.org.uk
for more information about LWPF and this seminar.



--
Prof. Alison Blunt
Department of Geography
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
London E1 4NS

tel: 020 7882 8437
fax: 020 8981 6276

Editor of Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
www.blackwellpublishing.com/TRAN

Diaspora Cities research project
www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/diasporacities/