ABSTRACT
This volume of essays is concerned with questions of place and space on coasts and is rooted in the ethnographic study of coastal villages, towns, resorts and marine parks, together with the land, sea, and natural resources that surround them. Although the larger part of the collection consists of work on the European coastline, the book is intended to have implications for geographical areas elsewhere in the world. The primary focus is upon coastal settlements and the contexts under which these evolve. These contexts are routinely underpinned by conflict between different interest groups contesting the ownership and control of the foreshore and its resources. We shall turn to the structural nature of this contestation at the conclusion of this Introduction.
