Geography, Science and MagicAuthor(s): Elspeth GrahamSource: Area, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1989), p. 194Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20002723 .

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194 IBG Annual Conference

issues cannot easily be divorced seems to me to be of great importance yet most discussion of environmental ethics takes place outside Geography.

Elspeth Graham St Andrews University

Geography, science and magic On the final morning of the conference the History and Philosophy of Geography Study Group held a meeting on the theme' Geography, science and magic'. Despite a last minute cancellation by one of the speakers, a group of around 35 delegates heard three fascinating and well presented papers and participated in a lively discussion. David Livingstone (Queen's, Belfast) carefully qualified a ' heroic ' history of European science by demonstrating the links between geography and magic which endured at least until the 17th century. His discussion ranged widely from the voyages of discovery to Preadamite theory leading him to conclude that what passes for geography cannot be understood apart from the social context within which it is practised. His further claim that there is, therefore, no essentialist definition of geography proved the most contentious.

After coffee the final presentation, by Stephen Daniels (Nottingham), used Philip of Loutherbourg's painting of Coalbrookdale (1801) to introduce the idea of a landscape of industrial progress. It then explored the interrelationships between alchemy, science and free

masonery through a series of other paintings and prints returning to Coalbrookdale to illustrate the importance of alchemical imagery even amidst this celebration of the powers of modern science. Our task, Daniels argued, should be the intellectual recovery of this dual aspect of the

Rosicrucian enlightenment. The second paper, by David Matless (Nottingham) took this task as its starting point, suggesting that the postmodern project must be to recover the spiritual or

mystical aspects of nature. The ideas of both Vaughan Cornish and Francis Younghusband, two early 20th century geographers, were taken as illustrations of the compatibility of geography and nature-mysticism. What is needed, Matless argued, is a new discourse on environment and nature. These two intriguing and well illustrated papers stimulated a lively response from the audience with discussion continuing well after the official end of the session, although some of us are still sceptical about Christaller's use of magic numbers for his K-networks!

Elspeth Graham St Andrews University

Motor of change: global, national and regional impacts of restructuring in the automobile industry The location of the IBG Conference at Coventry lent itself naturally to the suggestion that the Industrial Activity and Area Study Group should devote its day-long session to the motor vehicle industry. A full programme of papers was arranged examining the industry from the world to local scale. In due course it is hoped to publish these papers.

Professor Gerald Bloomfield of the University of Guelph gave a masterly overview of recent changes in the world industry. The vitality of Japanese and South Korean firms was contrasted with the stagnant nature of indigenous producers and markets in North America and Western Europe, changes which had important consequences for the balance of payments in particular countries. Within major regions there was some dispersal of the industry as plants in the traditional core areas closed and new plants were opened elsewhere. Dr Bob Gwynne (University of Birmingham) examined the industry in third world countries using theoretical perspectives. The expectation that the industry would filter down in its mature stage to gain the advantage of lower labour costs had not so far occurred, largely because improving technology had reduced the differential. A viable industry could only be created in third world countries with technical cooperation from multinationals and significant exports to overcome the weakness of small home

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