Keswick In Bloom

Information

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Location: Keswick

Instructions

Aims

• to foster an understanding of the content and significance of place imagery
• to use a fieldwork exercise to introduce some key points about Geography

Objectives

By the end of the exercise students should

• appreciate the value of fieldwork in human geography
• be able to distinguish between the endeavours of the journalist (investigative or otherwise) and the academic
• have eaten some Cumberland sausage or some Tatie pot!???

Equipment provided

• This Fieldwork Instruction Sheet
• Map of Keswick

Context to the exercise

You are Jo Vial, a maverick freelance writer from Ambleside in the Lake District. Pa Stitt, the Editor of Lake District Life (a magazine published in Keswick that celebrates people and place in the Lake District and surrounding area) has just been informed that he is to be sacked from his post to make way for the nephew of the owner of the magazine. Pa must complete the next edition of Lake District Life before vacating his post. In his anger, Pa has commissioned you to produce a scathing reinterpretation of Keswick for the 'Places to be proud of' section of the magazine.

Fieldwork

In this exercise, you will conduct the fieldwork to collect information for the article. You are searching for any evidence that contradicts the image of Keswick as an attractive rural town. You should use all your senses, i.e. sight (unsightly places, graffiti, derelict buildings, unkempt land, bad behaviour, etc.), sound (noise pollution from cars, industry, music machines, etc.), smell (air pollution, agricultural odours, etc.), taste (local produce that you find unpalatable, food you are served that is less-than-perfect, etc.) and touch (physical contact you object to, dirty seats that sit on, etc.). Cover as much of the town as possible. You want to visit the 'hidden places' as well as the tourist hot-spots. Mark on your map the site of any evidence that you will use in writing your article. Sketch features that you think will have an impact of the readers. You will have between 1.5 and 2 hours to complete your fieldwork.

Debriefing

As a group we will have a short discussion of what we have observed, heard, smelled, tasted and touched that contrasts the rosy image of Keswick promoted by the town and its representatives. Dr Smyth will spend five minutes explaining the wider significance of the exercise ...

Further thoughts

The exercise touches on several key debates in geography and academia. You may wish to follow these issues up in more detail:

Place marketing

• Why are places marketed? Who really benefits from place marketing?
• Kearns, G. and Philo, C. (1993) Selling Places: The City and Cultural Capital, Past and Present. Oxford: Pergamon. (I10 KEA)

Perception of rural places

• Are rural place perceptions accurate? How useful are the generalisations that we use to characterise places?
• Short, J.R. (1991) Imagined Country: Society, Culture and Environment. London: Routledge (I5 SHO)

Journalism and Academia

• How do these professions differ? How might the information generated by one, be used by the other?
• Ragin, C.C. (1994) Constructing Social Research: The Unity and Diversity of Method. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge. 31-53. (JRULM)