Placing London - From Imperial Capital to Global City

London continues to fascinate a vast audience across the world, and an extensive, diverse literature now exists describing and analyzing this metropolis. The central question - what is London? - has produced many answers but none of them, the author argues, uncovers the complex ways in which knowledge is constructed in the diverse attempts to represent places and people. On the contrary: a gulf has opened up between analysis of contemporary London as a global, postcolonial city, on the one hand, and historical accounts of the imperial capital on the other. The author shows how the gap can be bridged by combining an analysis of the representation over time by various experts of London and certain localities with an investigation of the ways in which residents have represented their communities through struggles over symbolic and material resources.

List of contents

Table of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

PART I

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Representing London during Empire: The Inter-War Guides

Chapter 3. Representing the Global City: Contemporary Tourist Guides

PART II

Chapter 4. The West End and Soho: ALien Settlements Amid Colonies of Pleasure and Power

Chapter 5. Local Representation of Difference in the West End's 'Foreign Quarter'

PART III

Chapter 6. The City of London: From Empire to Globe

Chapter 7. The City of London: Place and Placelessness

PART IV

Chapter 8. The East End: The Transformation of Place

Chapter 9. The East End: Guiding Tourists through a Foreign Land

Chapter 10. Representing Locality in the East End: People and Place in the Global City

PART V

Chapter 11. Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

About the author

John Eade is Professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of Surrey Roehampton, London.

Michael J. Sallnow was a senior lecturer in social anthropology at the London School of Economics.

Summary

London continues to fascinate a vast audience across the world, and an extensive, diverse literature now exists describing and analyzing this metropolis. The central question - what is London? - has produced many answers but none of them, the author argues, uncovers the complex ways in which knowledge is constructed in the diverse attempts to represent places and people. On the contrary: a gulf has opened up between analysis of contemporary London as a global, postcolonial city, on the one hand, and historical accounts of the imperial capital on the other. The author shows how the gap can be bridged by combining an analysis of the representation over time by various experts of London and certain localities with an investigation of the ways in which residents have represented their communities through struggles over symbolic and material resources.

Additional text

"[The] book is neatly divided into three tours of the focal districts of Central London [and] replete with lurid and dangerous sights and sounds ... I am lured by Eade's new manual to travel to London to sample samosas, discover provocative multicultural art and theater, and make nocturnal sorties for the hoisting of ales."  · Urban Affairs

"[The author] writes clearly and with feeling ... [The information] is always plausible and well documented."  · Contemporary Sociology

"... an excellent ... wonderful collection of essays."  · Friends Newsletter, Max Kade Institute

"An impressive and scholarly analysis ... a profound, college-level retrospective and highly recommended."   · The Midwest Book Review

"... a timely and innovative study. The scholarship is sound and the book is well organised and clearly written."  · Les Back, Goldsmiths College

Product details

• Authors: John Eade
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 01.06.2000
• EAN: 9781571817365
• ISBN: 978-1-57181-736-5
• No. of pages: 198
• Series: No Series Linked
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Urban Studies, Anthropology (General)