| This paper
introduces our research on the case of Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer convicted
of murdering the burglar discovered in his home in August 1999. The case
mobilised a range of discourses about the home, showing how it has become
symbolically central to public discourses of law and order, disciplinarity,
defensive individualism and fear of crime. It is a commonplace that individual
liberty must be measured against the wider security of all citizens. Paradoxically,
policing, which is established to maintain law and order, also erodes personal
liberty, and, in doing so, increases the social and psychic significance
of the private world that remains. This private world -for those who can
afford it -is the world of home ownership. The mystification of' home ownership'
is certainly not new but the recent collision of events and symbols around
the rural, violence and private property has been resonant and politically
mobilising for ordinary people. This paper explores how collaborative, interdisciplinary
research can add complexity and nuance to the study of such cases. We hope
to show how the political investments of cultural studies can be re- invigorated
through jointly undertaken projects that allow for open dialogue rather
than closed readings of controversial cultural events. |
|
Heather Nunn
and Anita Biressi
Dr Heather Nunn is Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Communication
Studies at Middlesex University. She has published in New Formations
and Women: A Cultural Review. Her book Politics and
Fantasy: Gender, Political Culture and Thatcher is forthcoming
from Lawrence and Wishart.
Email: HANunn@aol.com
Dr Anita Biressi is Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at
Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College. She is the author
of Crime, Fear and the Law in True Crime Stories (Palgrave:
2001).
Email: Biressi@,aol.com
|
|
