Globalisation and the Global Countryside: A Geovisual Narrative

My research investigates the role rural areas play in the globalisation process through analysing, mapping and visualising a facet of themes. I examine migration patterns that include amenity and labour migration routes, trade and business networks of entrepreneurs, agriculture and food with examples in exports and imports, commodity chains, foot prints and supply chains of supermarkets, TNCs (eg Tesco, Laura Ashley and mining corporations, fishing, sugar and wool assemblages), diffusion of wine technologies, social media connections, fishing, land grabbing, health and tourism.

With my research dating as far as the 19th century with case studies in Newtown, Wales, Australia, China, Sweden, New Zealand and Canada, I rely on data characterised by the three Vs of big data: volume, velocity and variety. I utilise quantitative and qualitative secondary data from national and international data archives as well as primary sources like narratives from oral histories, interviews, surveys, newspaper records, media reports, archives and document research.

I present efforts using spatial only and time space methodologies to process, analyse, map, visualise and narrate globalisation stories of rural areas. This includes the difficulties in undertaking this research.