Staff Profile

Professor Peter Atkins, MA, PhD (Cantab)

Professor in the Department of Geography

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 41865

Fax: +44 (0)191 33 41801

Room number: 410

Contact (email at p.j.atkins@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

Peter was an undergraduate and postgraduate in the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge. He then taught at the University of Leicester and the University of Wales, Swansea before joining the staff at Durham in 1980. He is currently a Professor of Geography.

Peter's main research interests are the geographies of food and drink. The main approach throughout his career has been historical, and he has recently been developing interdisciplinary and international perspectives with colleagues in the International Commission for Research on European Food History. Peter is Senior Vice-President of the ICREFH.

In addition to the historical work, Peter has maintained strong links with South Asia, especially Bangladesh. Research here has recently included work on problems of drinking water quality. He is always pleased to consider applications for PhD research on South Asia.

Future plans include a number of books and papers on constructions of 'quality' in food and drink and associated state interventions since 1850.

Research Groups

Selected Publications

Books: authored

Atkins, P.J. & Bowler, I.R. Food in society, economy, culture, geography. Arnold; 2001. (Additional information)
Atkins, P.J., Simmons, I.G. & Roberts, B.K. People, Land and Time. Arnold; 1998. (Additional information)
Raw, M. & Atkins, P.J. Agriculture and Food. Collins Educational; 1995. (Additional information)
Atkins, P.J. The Directories of London, 1677-1977. Mansell; 1990. (Additional information)

Books: edited

Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Odddy, D.J. Food and the city in Europe since 1800. Aldershot: Ashgate; 2007. (Additional information)

Books: sections

Atkins, P.J. Lobbying and resistance with regard to policy on bovine tuberculosis: an inside/outside model of Britain, 1900-1939. In: Worboys, M. & Condrau, F. From urban penalty to global emergency: current issues in the history of tuberculosis. McGill-Queen's University Press; Accepted.
Atkins, P.J. & Stanziani, A. From laboratory expertise to litigation. The municipal laboratory of Paris and the Inland Revenue laboratory in London, 1870-1914: A Comparative Analysis. In: Van Damme, S. & Rabier, C. Fields of expertise: experts, knowledge and powers in European modern history. Cambridge Scholars Press; 2008.
Atkins, P.J. A tale of two cities: a comparison of food systems in London and Paris in the 1850s. In: Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Oddy, D.J. Food in the City in Europe since the Late Eighteenth Century. Ashgate; 2007:25-38.
Atkins, P.J. & Oddy, D.J. Food and the city. In: Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Oddy, D.J. Food and the City since the Late Eighteenth Century. Ashgate; 2007:1-10.
Atkins, P.J. & Oddy, D.J. Food and the city. In: Atkins, P.J., Lummel, P. & Oddy, D.J. Food and the City since the Late Eighteenth Century. Ashgate; 2007:1-10.
Atkins, P.J. Le concept de laie sain en Grande-Bretagne et sa mise en oeuvre, 1900-1960. In: Audoin-Rouzeau, F. & Sabban, F. Un aliment sain dans un corps sain: perspectives historiques Presses Universitaires Francois-Rabelais. 2007:273-287.
Atkins, P.J. The Empire Marketing Board. In: Oddy, D.J. & Petráňová, L. The diffusion of food culture in Europe from the late eighteenth century to the present day. Academia Press; 2005:248-255.
Atkins, P.J. Edmund Charles Tisdall (1824-1892). In: Matthew, C. New Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press; 2004:839-840.
Atkins, P.J. Sir William Price (1865-1938). In: Matthew, C. New Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press; 2004:325-326.
Atkins, P.J. Is it urban? The relationship between food production and urban space in Britain, 1800-1950. In: Hietala, M. & Vahtikari, T. The Landscape of Food: The Food Relationship of Town and Country in Modern Times. Finnish of Social Medicine; 2003:133-144.
Atkins, P.J. Milk consumption and tuberculosis in Britain, 1850-1950. In: Fenton, A. Order and disorder: the health implications of eating and drinking in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Tuckwell Press; 2000:83-95.
Atkins, P.J. The pasteurization of England: the science, culture and health implications of milk processing, 1900-1950. In: Smith, D. & Phillips, J. Food, science and regulation in the 20th century. Routledge; 2000:37-51.
Atkins, P.J. A séance with the living: the intelligibility of the north Korean landscape. In: Smith, H. North Korea in the New World Order. Macmillan; 1996:196-211.
Atkins, P.J. Causey Arch and the industrial revolution in North East England. In: Sargent, J. & Wiltshire, R. Geographical Studies and Japan. Japan Library; 1993:182-184.
Atkins, P.J. The dialectics of environment and culture: kimilsungism and the north Korean landscape. In: Mukherjee, A. & Agnihotri, V.K. Environment and Development: Views from the East and the West. Concept; 1993:309-332.
Atkins, P.J. Edmund Charles Tidsall (1824-1892) milk retailer and wholesaler. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1986:534-536.
Atkins, P.J. Edwin White (1873-1965) milk wholesaler and retailer. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1986:7740776.
Atkins, P.J. The production and marketing of fruit and vegetables 1850-1950. In: Oddy, D.J. & Miller, D. Diet and Health in Modern Britain. Croom Helm; 1986:102-133.
Atkins, P.J. Joseph Herbert Maggs (1890-1964) dairy company chairman. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1985:79-80.
Atkins, P.J. Leonard Maggs (1890-1959) dairy company chairman. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworks; 1985:81-82.
Atkins, P.J. Sir William Price (1865-1938) milk retailer and wholesaler. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1985:769-771.
Atkins, P.J. Arthur Saxby Barham (1865-1952) milk wholesaler and retailer. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography: a Biographical Dictionary of Business Leaders Active in Britain in the Period 1860-1980. Butterworks; 1984:156-157.
Atkins, P.J. Sir George Barham (1836-1913) milk wholesaler and retailer. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1984:157-161.
Atkins, P.J. Sir Robert Butler (1866-1933) milk and dairy products wholesaler and retailer. In: Jeremy, D.J. Dictionary of Business Biography. Butterworths; 1984:531-533.
Atkins, P.J. The growth of London's milk trade c. 1845-1914. In: The European cities and technology reader. Routledge/Open University; 1978:208-226.

Journal papers: academic

Hassan, M.M. & Atkins, P.J. Atsenic risk mapping in Bangladesh: a simulation technique of cokriging estimation from regional count data. Journal of Environmental Science and Health. 2007;42:1719-1728.
Atkins, P.J. Early experiments with school milk in Britain, 1900-34. Journal of Policy History. 2007;19:395-427.
Atkins, P.J., Hassan, M.M. & Dunn, C.E. Environmental irony: summoning death in Bangladesh. Environment and Planning A. 2007;39:2699-2714.
Isalm, T. & Atkins, P.J. Indigenous floating cultivation: a sustainable agricultural practice in the wetlands of Bangladesh. Development in Practice. 2007;17:130-136. (Additional information)
Nadiruzzaman, N. & Atkins, P.J. Infrastructure and poverty reduction: the Rural Maintenance Programme in Bangladesh. Indian Journal of Landscape Systems and Ecological Studies. 2007;30:1-6. (Additional information)
Atkins, P.J. Laboratories, laws, and the career of a commodity. Environnment and Planning D: Society and Space. 2007;25:967-989. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Atkins, P.J., Hassan, M.M. & Dunn, C.E. Poisons, pragmatic governance and deliberative democracy: The arsenic crisis in Bangladesh. Geoforum. 2007;38:155-170. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Atkins, P. School Milk in Britain, 1500-1534. Journal of Policy History. 2007;19:395-427.
Huda, K.M.S., Atkins, P.J. & Dunn, C.E. Monitoring and spatial mapping of small water bodies using GIS and remote sensing. Oriental Geographer. 2006;50:43-52.
Hassan, M.M., Atkins, P.J. & Dunn, C.E. Pattern of groundwater arsenic concentrations in diffrent aquifers. Oriental Geographer. 2006;50:1-17.
Hassan, M.M., Atkins, P.J. & Dunn, C.E. Social implications of arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh. Social Science and Medicine. 2006;61:2201-2211.
Atkins, P.J., Hassan, M.M. & Dunn, C.E. Toxic torts: arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh and the legal geographies of responsibility. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 2006;31:272-285. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Atkins, P.J. Fattening children or fattening farmers? School milk in Britain, 1921-1941. Economic History Review. 2005;58:57-78. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Atkins, P.J. Mapping foodscapes. Food & History. 2005;3:267-280. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Huda, K.M.S. & Atkins, P.J. The creation and uses of small water bodies in Bangladesh: case study of Shahjadpur Thana. Indian Journal of Landscape Systems and Ecological Studies. 2005;28:1-7.
Atkins, P.J. The Milk in Schools Scheme, 1934-40: 'nationalization' and resistance. History of Education. 2005;34:1-21. (Additional information)
Atkins, P.J. Interdisciplinarity and positionality: case studies from the social sciences. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews. 2004;29:1-4.
Hassan, M.M., Atkins, P.J. & Dunn, C.E. Suitable arsenic mitigation options in Bangladesh: voices of local people. Indian Journal of Landscape Systems and Ecological Studies. 2004;27:1-7.
Atkins, P.J. The Glasgow case: meat, disease and regulation, 1889-1924. Agricultural History Review. 2004;52:161-182. (Additional information) (View publication online)
Atkins, P.J. Mother's milk and infant death in Britain, circa 1900-1940. Anthropology of Food. 2003;2.
Atkins, P.J., Townsend, J.G., Raju, S. & Kumar, N. A geography of the sex ratio in India. Espace, Populations, Sociétés. 1997;2-3:167-171.
Gastoni, M. & Atkins, P.J. The Maltese food system and the Mediterranean. Geojournal. 1997;41:127-136.
Kumar, N., Raju, S., Atkins, P.J. & Townsend, J.G. Where angels fear to tread? Mapping women and men in India. Environment and Planning A. 1997;29:2207-2215.
Atkins, P.J. How the West End has won: the struggle to remove street barriers in Victorian London. Journal of Historical Geography. 1993;19:159-171.
Atkins, P.J. White poison: the health and consequences of milk consumption. Social History of Medicine. 1992;5:207-227.
Sheub, S.S. & Atkins, P.J. Crop area estimation: a comparison of remote sensing and census methods. Geography. 1991;76:235-239.
Atkins, P.J. Sophistication detected: or, the adulteration of the milk supply, 1850-1914. Social History. 1991;16:317-339.
Atkins, P.J. The spatial configuration of class solidarity in London's West End, 1792-1939. Urban History Yearbook. 1990;17:35-65.
Atkins, P.J. Eighteenth century London directories. Factotum. 1989;28:12-16.
Atkins, P.J. London's suburban directories, 1827 circa 1975. Publishing History. 1989;25:73-88.
Atkins, P. J. Operation Flood. Geography. 1989;74:259-262.
Atkins, P. J. The compilation and reliability of London directories. London Journal. 1989;14:35-46.
Atkins, P.J. The Covent Garden Ladies. Factotum. 1989;30:10-11.
Atkins, P.J. India's dairy development and Operation flood. Food Policy. 1988;13:305-312.
Atkins, P.J. London directories: a reassessment. Local Historian. 1988;18:187-189.
Atkins, P.J. Redefining agricultural geography as the geography of food. Area. 1988;20:281-283.
Atkins, P.J. The charmed circle: von Thünen and agriculture around nineteenth century London. Geography. 1987;72:129-139.
Atkins, P.J. The intra-urban milk supply of London circa 1790-1914. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 1977;New Series 2:383-399.
Atkins, P.J. Moated medieval sites. Local Historian. 1972;10:135-138.

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