Student presentation

1. Reinterpreting Local
Culture
J Urry
A presentation by Georgina Cairns and Anna Symington

2. GLOBAL AND THE LOCAL
• CRITICISES IDEA – that
globalisation leads to
homogenous cultures
• Instead, Urry proposes that
globalisation is still producing
locally distinct societies
• Important to analyse the
interconnections of BOTH local
and global processes – not just
global

3. Social Flows
• Urry analyses the social flows of people, information, companies,
ideas and images
• These flows link to globalisation but don’t necessarily produce
cultural homogenisation
• Examples: global communication (e.g. internet based
communication), mass media which ‘collapses space and time’,
international travel, the English language being widely used and
global politics

4. Appadurai (1990): global cultural flows
• Ethnoscapes: movement of people (tourists, immigrants etc…)
• Technoscapes: movement of technologies
• Finanscapes: movement of money (stock exchanges and markets)
• Mediascapes: mass media
• Ideoscapes: global ideologies
• These flows act upon different locations in differing and unexpected
ways
• The effect of globalisation increases local distinctiveness as different
societies have differing styles and interests
• Globalisation is about “inserting a multiplicity of localities into the
overall picture of a new global system”

5. Transforming history and culture
• Cultural industries in Britain are important in order to maintain
traditions in a modern way – these industries include: music,
television, cinema, publishing, leisure and tourism.
• Example: the de-industrialisation of many towns/cities in Britain in
the 1970’s and 80’s created loss in many ways. Today, many of these
sites have been preserved and transformed into museums. This
attracts tourists/employees and income.
• Local councils invest in tourism projects which attracts
tourists/employers and employees.

6. The de-industrialisation of the North
• Took place in 1980’s
• It led to many derelict Victorian buildings which people prefer to the
unappealing character of modern architecture
• These old buildings are preserved and used as heritage sites – this
highlights how globalisation is not leading to homogenisation
• It is argued that it is not merely that the object/building/site is
historical but it signifies a place and time in history
• “Civic societies” (a group which aims to represent the needs of a local
community) are a key body who aim to keep such heritage

7. Liverpool Albert Docks

8. History of Lancashire
• Lancashire was where the first industrial revolution took place
• It has a culture and reputation around the manufacturing industry
(textile mills, coal mines and factories)
• Lancashire is surrounded by attractive countryside
• Lancashire has 2 histories: one being factory based industry and one
being mass tourism – these are heavily intertwined
• Mass tourism around Lancashire can be seen through Blackpool
• Both of these industries have heavily declined since the 1980’s and
only recently has it been seen as worthy to visit the urban side of
Lancashire

9. Blackpool Pleasure Beach

10. Lancashire
• Liverpool and Manchester have both seen massive increases in
income through tourism and commuters
• Lancashire has ‘repackaged’ it’s history and culture which attracts
tourists permanent residents
• Example: the Wigan Pier Heritage Centre shows how local
communities develop sites on their heritage and history, in an
attempt to re-represent history. This centre attracts over a million
visitors a year
• Hewison: critiques this glorification of heritage sites highlighting how
such history was not glamourous – heritiage distorts history because
of the emphasis put on it

11. Summary
• History and culture have been used in Britain as part of an urban
regeneration strategy
• Conservation acts against globalisation as it minimises homogenous
societies by maintaining local distinctiveness through heritage and
history