Annual Research Programme - Regions and Regionalism in Europe and Beyond
Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YD, UK.
E-mail: ias@lancaster.ac.uk
Colloquium 2: The Construction and Legitimation of Regional Identity
30 November - 02 December 2006
Read summary and download colloquium report
Introduction
This colloquium focused on the role of artists, politics, and media, and the organizations and agencies supporting them, in the construction and legitimization of regional identity.
Drawing, in part, on the data collected by the AHRC-funded 'Moving Manchester / Mediating Marginalities' project based in Greater Manchester and the EU- funded EMEDIATE project in Linguistics, this event aimed to bring together representatives from the arts, media, and publishing worlds (as well as academics) to assess the role of each in producing, and promoting, 'the region'.
Topics for discussion included:
- The role of central / regional government in the production, mediation and legitimization of regional identities;
- The effect of the media in the communication, representation, and implementation of regional policy;
- The extent to which regional cultural policy does, or does not, accommodate immigrants and minority groups;
- The role of individual artists / writers and the cultural industries in the formation of regional identities;
- Tensions between local/regional and national/transnational identities (globalization / glocalization).
The keynote speakers were:
- Professor Ulrike Meinhof (University of Southampton)
- Dr. Gilbert Weiss (Salzburg University)
- Professor Roger Bromley (Nottingham Trent University).
There was also an evening panel on the Friday evening with guest speakers from across Britain and Europe. These included:
- Professor András Kovács (Central European University, Budapest)
- SuAndi (Black Arts Alliance, Manchester)
- Matthew Frost (Head of Editorial, Manchester University Press)
- Avril Heffernan (Arts Council of the North West).
Speakers and participants
Participants at the evening panel were invited to reflect upon the following questions with reference to their own professional / research interests:
- What are your thoughts on the contending roles of 'national' and 'regional' government in the construction and legitimation of regional identity?
- What tensions exist between the national and local media in the representation of 'the region'?
- In what ways does hegemonic cultural policy impact upon migrant and diasporic groups at a regional level?
- How important are the arts, and arts organisations, in promoting and mediating regional identity?
On both days of the colloquium, a small panel of Lancaster-based academics opened the afternoon session which included small group discussion and plenaries / 'summing up' sessions by the conference organisers.
Lancaster Co-ordinators
E-mail: l.pearce@lancaster.ac.uk
E-mail: r.wodak@lancaster.ac.uk
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