1. Imagining the Rural

2. Reading Valentine Ch 8, esp. pp 249-260 Exam: 3:30 pm April 11 2003

3. What does “Rural” mean?

4. Tendency towards dualisms/oppositions –rural vs urban Idea of distinct difference

5. What does “Rural” mean? Urban ideas of the rural are constructed –and contested –and are complex

6. Concepts of the Rural

7. Rural community People think that rural areas have a better sense of community

8. Rural community Women supposed to be important in building/maintaining rural community

9. English village fete 1980s

12. Rural community but rural areas often lack the facilities women need and use: –childcare –public transport

13. Rural community Rural community supposed to be better for raising children

15. Marketing the Rural Creation of “family themed” places of rural consumption –petting farms –country restaurants –pick-your-own farms (Chudleigh’s, The Big Apple)Chudleigh’s –urban “farmer’s markets” –hobby farms Re-invent the rural as an urban fantasy

21. Marketing the Rural Rurality a favorite theme of real-estate marketers

30. Marketing the Rural Rurality a favourite theme of merchandizers

32. Rural community Frequently threatened by the influx of urbanites and their lifestyles –increase property prices, pricing rural families out of the market –transform village shopping into boutique shopping –local farmers feel unwelcome in bistro bars –rural gentrifiers object to farm noises and smells

33. Agincourt 1949

34. Agincourt 1973

35. Rural community Threatened by the economic relationship with the urban –urbanites want cheap food: drives traditional family farms out of business

36. What does “Rural” mean? Distinctions are blurring –countryside is urbanizing: “exurbanism” –“rural gentrification”

37. UK Rapid increase in exurbanism since 1960 Protections on farmland removed under Thatcher government English village “dying” from 1914

38. North America Rapid shift of population from urban to rural in 1990s –fewer rural folks leave for the cities –more urban folks move in –telecommuting, recreation

40. Exurbanism in Ohio

44. Rural Commodification Rural landscape and supposed lifestyle being turned into a commodity to feed urban fantasies becomes a desirable place to live –exclusive, quiet, private, secluded –historic, nostalgic, traditional –outdoorsy, healthy, moral

45. English Rural Idylls English tribal myth of the “green and pleasant land” –country cottages –thatched roofs

48. Cricket as Mythology English tribal myth of cricket played on the village green

49. Cricket as Mythology Reality: most English cricket is urban Reality: the West Indians etc., are better at cricket than the English

50. Conclusions: Urban concept of rural is constructed –filled with fantasy What is the reality? –Rural idyll?