This may be of interest to members of Devon Dowsers
James Thurgill
A talk to Malvern Dowsers
about the ‘father’ of the modern Ley – Alfred Watkins
on 28th April at 11.00am (UK time) is now OPEN TO GUESTS.
This talk, arranged by the Malvern Dowsers, is now open to guests for a donation. James is currently lecturing in Japan. Therefore, this is a daytime meeting to accommodate the time difference. For details please contact: secretary@malverndowsers.org.uk
We look forward to welcoming you to this unique perspective on deep mapping in the landscape.
A Watkinsian Geography:
Memory, mapping & place in the work of Alfred Watkins.
James Thurgill, The University of Tokyo
I will use this short talk to introduce my research into Alfred Watkins and the relationship between people, place(s), and time that can be seen to emerge from his writings on alignments in the British landscape.
As a cultural geographer, I’m interested in uncovering the ways in which places are made, represented, and, moreover, experienced. For me, Watkins’ writings offer a rich source of practical and theoretical information for mapping our landscapes and, as such, correspond to a geographic method commonly referred to as “deep mapping”.
I will discuss the ways in which the practice of ‘deep mapping’, initiated in Watkins’ studies of alignments, can be used more broadly to understand how our surrounding geographies are formed through a layering of time, memory, and experience, and, furthermore, how Watkins’ work has come to influence the geographical imagination.
I will also show how my research attempts to align Watkins’ theory with the interests of academic geography and will describe the ways in which my own work has been influenced by Watkins’ ideas.
Malvern Dowsers
