David Dave Clarke

Holocaust topologies: singularity, politics, space

Abstract This paper explores the Holocaust through three figures of singularity: exception (the Holocaust as a unique event in world history); extremity (the Holocaust as a limit case that discloses what only remains latent in other instances); and serial erasure (the Holocaust as a transpearing trace of the attempt to terminate the interminable). Whilst these figures have been respectively associated with debates in History, Sociology and Continental Philosophy, they have almost invariably been divorced from considerations of physical and social space . This lacuna is particularly disappointing, however, in so far as our understanding of the Holocaust is seriously impoverished by such a failure to map the geopolitics, geohistories and geophilosophies that were its conditions of possibility. Likewise, geographical knowledge is itself impoverished by its widespread and continuing failure to engage in any concerted and significant way with the Holocaust. Accordingly, our presentation explores the conceptualization of singularity as a potential means of theoretically informing debate on the spaces of the Holocaust. The paper situates the Holocaust in relation to the Nazis′ attempt to produce Lebensraum (living-space for the Aryan race) through Entfernung (removal of the Jews from the German lifeworld). This not only clarifies many of the difficulties encountered in the existing Holocaust literature, but also specifies the extent to which the Auschwitz universe of gas chambers and crematoria, in which millions of human beings were systematically killed, was employed by the Nazis to produce the space of the Third Reich.

A new perspective on how humans assess their surroundings; derivation of head orientation and its role in ‘framing’ the environment

Understanding the way humans inform themselves about their environment is pivotal in helping explain our susceptibility to stimuli and how this modulates behaviour and movement patterns. We present a new device, the Human Interfaced Personal Observation Platform (HIPOP), which is a head-mounted (typically on a hat) unit that logs magnetometry and accelerometry data at high rates and, following appropriate calibration, can be used to determine the heading and pitch of the wearer’s head. We used this device on participants visiting a botanical garden and noted that although head pitch ranged between −80° and 60°, 25% confidence limits were restricted to an arc of about 25° with a tendency for the head to be pitched down (mean head pitch ranged between −43° and 0°). Mean rates of change of head pitch varied between −0.00187°/0.1 s and 0.00187°/0.1 s, markedly slower than rates of change of head heading which varied between −0.3141°/0.1 s and 0.01263°/0.1 s although frequency distributions of both parameters showed them to be symmetrical and monomodal. Overall, there was considerable variation in both head pitch and head heading, which highlighted the role that head orientation might play in exposing people to certain features of the environment. Thus, when used in tandem with accurate position-determining systems, the HIPOP can be used to determine how the head is orientated relative to gravity and geographic North and in relation to geographic position, presenting data on how the environment is being ‘framed’ by people in relation to environmental content.

The battle for Safeway

The bid for Safeway announced by Morrisons in January 2003 ended months of speculation as to the next victim in the battle for power in the UK multiple food market. The Morrisons bid provided the catalyst for other major food retailers to express their interest in the Safeway company and its stores (also joined by a number of non‐food retailers). There is little doubt that this battle raises important geographical issues. First is the spatial fit of each of the bidders and the Safeway stores. The key question is who will gain most new regional market share from the purchase of the Safeway stores? The second is the implication for local spatial monopolies in different parts of the UK depending on the likely winner. This will almost certainly be investigated by the UK Competition Commission. The aim of this paper is to examine both these geographical issues and present some what‐if scenarios concerning future amalgamations of store networks.

Consumption, identity and space‐time

Offering an affirmative reading of work suggesting a strong association between postmodern society and consumer society, this paper provides an account of consumption and identity through an initial consideration of modern and postmodern conceptions of space‐time. Rather than addressing the detail of various critiques of work promulgating a strong association between the postmodern and consumerism; and rather than considering directly the degree of overlap or synonymy of the two terms; the paper works with an understanding of the modern /postmodern distinction that allows the problem (or, rather, aporia) of identity, and its increasingly important relation to consumption, to be brought to the fore. The connections between modernity, postmodernity, space‐time, identity and consumption are shown to possess a strong theoretical coherence‐recognition of which is extremely limited in those critiques expressing incredulity with respect to the association of consumerism and postmodernity, to which this paper obl...

The Perfection of Geography as an Aesthetic of Disappearance: Baudrillard's America

e are agreed: Jean Baudrillard has perfected geography. For us, Jean WBaudrillard’s America (1988) is the first and last book of geography. Geography is now complete: nothing is missing, nothing is out of place, nothing is left to do. We can say, with absolute precision, that the beginning of America ends (in) the wake of deconstruction. The anonymous and thoroughly individuated page X, as it reiterates, parodies and subsequently abandons the thematic and chiastic design of deconstruction (X), with its frontispiece of the aesthetic of disappearance par excellence (the acceleration of desert freeway into the infinitely receding horizon of abstract speed and absolute deterritorialization: point X), prefaces and pre-empts the first division of America: VANISHING POINT. All of this, however, will have been completely misunderstood by the would-be reader of America. Indeed, before one even encounters the first word which would open the book that is America (an opening which would say to the reader: ’Come. Begin your reading right here, with the word &dquo;Nostalgia&dquo; ’), everything which will have been written and presented in the

Space, Time, and Media Theory: An Illustration from the Television-Advertising Nexus:

The constitutive role of the media in relation to society has, arguably, not received the attention it deserves from those interested in the spatial constitution of society, A case could be made, for example, that the most dramatic manifestation of the relation between the media and space—viz globalisation—has led to a failure to appreciate the multifaceted scales and dimensions of this relation. Thus, though sometimes sensitive to the local scale, notions of globalisation have seemingly indirectly caused the neglect of a more thoroughgoing examination of space and time within media theory. Rather than develop such a critique, however, I seek here to demonstrate the difficulties involved in such a reconsideration of media theory. Accordingly, in the paper I provide an analysis of the temporal bias in existing media theory—examining, in particular, Jhallys political-economic analysis of the television-advertising airtime market—and proceed to offer an alternative spatial analysis of television advertising, using a case study of the United Kingdom. The difficulty of integrating the two accounts serves to question the adequacy of existing media theory, thus demonstrating the importance of detailed theoretical and empirical work in helping to understand the increasingly significant role of the media in relation to society, space, and time.

Review of Hayward, K. J. (2004) City Limits: Crime, Consumer Culture and the Urban Experience Glasshouse Press, London

When Will Alsop (well known to discerning cultural consumers in Britain and elsewhere as the ‘blob’ architect) won the prestigious competition to design the Fourth Grace project in Liverpool in 2002, a storm of protest was unleashed in the architecture and urban design communities. His scheme was voted the least popular in a poll of 15 000 Liverpudlians. In a star-studded shortlist for this £200 million plus project, Alsop’s blobby design was ranked well behind those of Foster and Partners and Richard Rogers in the public’s esteem. A spokesman for Alsop Architects defended the design in the following terms

Fragmenting uncertainties: Some British business responses to stratospheric ozone depletion

Abstract Businesses face growing environmental pressures for modification of processes and practice. In some cases environmental uncertainties thus compound more traditional commercial concerns regarding the financial viability of business. This paper examines such various interconnected and fragmenting uncertainties through a study of firms related to debate about chemicals implicated in stratospheric ozone depletion. The analysis draws upon Interviews with key personnel In selected companies to consider perceptions of uncertainty (environmental, commercial and regulatory) faced by particular businesses, and their responses to such circumstances. Some businesses claimed difficulties in developing a strategic response to uncertain science. There were also indications of the manner in which attempted regulatory and technical resolution of environmental problems may create new difficulties for business.

PATCH: posture and mobility training for care staff versus usual care in care homes: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BackgroundResidents of care homes have high levels of disability and poor mobility, but the promotion of health and wellbeing within care homes is poorly realised. Residents spend the majority of their time sedentary which leads to increased dependency and, coupled with poor postural management, can have many adverse outcomes including pressure sores, pain and reduced social interaction. The intervention being tested in this project (the Skilful Care Training Package) aims to increase the awareness and skills of care staff in relation to poor posture in the older, less mobile adult and highlight the benefits of activity, and how to skilfully assist activity, in this group to enable mobility and reduce falls risk. Feasibility work will be undertaken to inform the design of a definitive cluster randomised controlled trial.MethodsThis is a cluster randomised controlled feasibility trial, aiming to recruit at least 12–15 residents at each of 10 care homes across Yorkshire. Care homes will be randomly allocated on a 1:1 basis to receive either the Skilful Care Training Package alongside usual care or to continue to provide usual care alone. Assessments will be undertaken by blinded researchers with participating residents at baseline (before care home randomisation) and at three and six months post randomisation. Data relating to changes in physical activity, mobility, posture, mood and quality of life will be collected. Data at the level of the home will also be collected and will include staff experience of care and changes in the numbers and types of adverse events residents experience (for example, hospital admissions, falls). Details of NHS service usage will be collected to inform the economic analysis. An embedded process evaluation will explore intervention delivery and its acceptability to staff and residents.DiscussionParticipant uptake, engagement and retention are key feasibility outcomes. Exploration of barriers and facilitators to intervention delivery will inform intervention optimisation. Study results will inform progression to a definitive trial and add to the body of evidence for good practice in care home research.Trial registrationISRCTN Registry, ISRCTN50080330. Registered on 27 March 2017.

Book review symposium: Value in Marx: The Persistence of Value in a More-Than-Capitalist World:

George Henderson’s Value in Marx is an intense, serious, scholarly work. It is also a joy to read. It is at once diligently faithful to Marx’s writings and yet genuinely creative: understanding Marx is a point of departure rather than a destination in its own right. Henderson grapples with the question of value in Marx, not because Marx bequeathed a confused or inadequate conception, but because Marx demonstrated that ‘in a capitalist society value must appear as other than what it is’ (p. 4). Grasping what value might be – and might yet become – is therefore essential to understanding Marx and Marx’s continuing relevance. This is the underlying position framing a series of close readings of the vagaries of value in Marx – readings that time and again generate sparks of originality sufficient to illuminate overlooked aspects of Marx’s thought; aspects previously ossified into the frozen form of received wisdom or neglected because they have been perceived as lying on barren ground. For Henderson, ‘the concept of value creates an object/problem that it works on. The theoretical substance is . . . in the details of how the relations and processes that compose and recompose assemblages actually work themselves out’ (p. xii). If the particular terms of this formulation appear unfamiliar, this demonstrates a commitment to expressing things in new and insightful ways, while simultaneously providing as lucid an exposition as possible. In this instance, we have already been told (with slight reticence at the ‘bloodlessness’ of the formulation) that: