Convenors: Aimee Morse (University of Gloucestershire) and Martin Phillips (University of Leicester)
The Rural Geography Research Group celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022, and since its inception, its members have conducted a diverse and changing range of rural research that has not only helped shape the sub-discipline, but also at times significantly influenced the wider discipline of geography as well as a series of other strands of rural studies.
This session seeks to map current content and dynamics in Rural Geography and the personal, intellectual and institutional trajectories through which the subdiscipline and associated fields of research and practice are being shaped. Contributions are sought that examine the significance of particular people, practices, philosophies, concepts, subjects of study, methodologies and institutions within the development of rural geography within and also, critically, beyond the UK. Attention may also be paid to the potential for ‘counter-mappings’ of the absences, instabilities and erasures in contemporary rural geographies, as well as potential directions for future research. Discussions may include reflections on the roles of conferences, symposia, training, funding and the Research Group itself in shaping individual and shared academic agendas, repertoires and trajectories.
We envisage that discussion will provide a state-of-the-art overview of contemporary rural geographical scholarship and provide attendees with an opportunity to co-develop potential future priorities for rural research. Key themes emerging from the discussion may further contribute to a chapter in an upcoming book on the Rural Geography Research Group.
Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words to mpp2@leicester.ac.uk and amorse1@glos.ac.uk by 17:00 GMT, Monday 19th February.