No abstract

This paper explores the role of Sure Start Children's Centres as spaces of encounter between new migrants to the UK and 'White English' residents in host communities. Children's Centres were selected as the context for the research because they serve people with common needs (families with pre-school children), and because building social capital and mutual support among parents is part of their core purpose (Department for Education. (2013). Sure Start Children's Centres: Statutory guidance for local authorities, commissioners of local health services and Jobcentre Plus. Retrieved from http://www. media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/childrens%20centre%20stat%20guidance% 20april%202013.pdf). Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews conducted with service users from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds (recent migrants) and service users representing 'the majority' white population in two urban areas in North East England, it explores the role of ethnicity and other factors relating to migration in shaping encounters in these spaces, and considers the perceived benefits of these interactions. It finds that interethnic encounter in Children's Centres is often seen by new migrant parents/carers primarily as an opportunity to improve English language skills, meeting an additional need to that of local 'indigenous' parents/carers. It further found that new migrant parents/carers often perceived Children's Centres as an opportunity to experience a particular version of the local community, facilitating more predictable encounters than encounters in the wider host community.Keywords: Children's Centres; micro-publics; service use; interethnic encounter; English language proficiency; policy-making Centres pour les Enfants en tant qu'espaces de rencontre interethnique au NordEst de l'Angleterre Cet article explore le rôle des Centres pour Enfants Sure Start en tant qu'espaces de rencontre entre les nouveaux immigrants arrivés au Royaume-Uni et les résidents « blancs anglais » des communautés d'accueil. Les Centres pour Enfants ont été sélectionnés comme contexte pour la recherche parce qu'ils servent les gens qui ont des besoins communs (des familles dont les enfants ne vont pas encore à l'école) et parce que la construction d'un capital social et de soutien mutuel entre parents fait partie de leur objectif principal (Ministère de l'Education, 2013). Puisant dans les données tirées d'entrevues semi-structurées menées auprès d'utilisateurs des services noirs ou de minorités ethniques (immigrants récents) et auprès d'utilisateurs représentant « la majorité» blanche de la population de deux secteurs urbains du Nord-Est de l'Angleterre, il explore le rôle de l'ethnicité et autres facteurs concernant l'immigration en donnant forme aux rencontres dans ces espaces et il examine les avantages que l'on peut dégager de ces interactions. Il trouve que la rencontre interethnique aux Centres *Current address: Faculty of Arts, York St John University, York, YO31 7EX, UK. Email: j.parks@ yorksj.ac.uk Social & Cultural Geo...

No abstract

This paper explores perceptions of public engagement with information on renewable energy developments. It draws on a case study of proposals by a major supermarket chain to construct single wind turbines in two semi-urban locations in the UK, analysing data from interviews with key actors in the planning process and focus groups with local residents. The paper concludes that key actors often had high expectations of how local people should engage with information, and sometimes implied that members of the public who were incapable of filtering or processing information in an organised or targeted fashion had no productive role to play in the planning process. It shows how the specific nature of the proposals (single wind turbines in semi-urban locations proposed by a commercial private sector developer) shaped local residents' information needs and concerns in a way that challenged key actors' expectations of how the public should engage with information.

Using theoretical concepts taken from the field of human geography to analyse the conflictual elements within music programmes, this paper presents new empirical research that unpacks the complex pedagogy employed by community musicians with the aim of beginning to address two recent criticisms of community music scholarship: a) community musicians only report positive outcomes and b) community musicians are not interested in scholarly analyses of their work.We begin with a review of literature presenting positive findings and discuss the methodological challenges of community music research. We introduce the key geographical concepts used to analyse the empirical data. After a presentation and discussion of facilitation pedagogy, we finish by suggesting that understanding the work of the community musician through geographical concepts provides a new way to analyse and theorize how a community music facilitator works, thus acknowledging the conflictual element of such work that is often tacit in research.

No abstract

No abstract

This paper stems from cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration between community music and human geography which sought to interrogate and understand claims of social sustainability and social change often cited in evaluation reports of community music projects. The lead authors (Parks and Cassidy) took this dialogue forward by organising a geography conference session which incorporated an instant choir workshop to test how we might ‘do’ social sustainability through practice. Drawing upon ideas from both disciplines, the paper synthesises the reflections of nine participants in the session to explore the capacity of creative, embodied, geographical practice to transform hegemonic experiences of academic conferences, and to create a sustainable and inclusive community of practice.