Learning Within Socio-Political Landscapes: (Re)imagining Children’s Geographies

Abstract

In this special issue, we bring together educators and researchers to (re)imagine what it means to teach and learn within the immediacy of the here and now, an orientation crucial to confronting contemporary threats to children’s lives, democracy, and the planet. We seek to extend and broaden Mitchell’s original conceptualization by centering the past and future alongside the immediacies of the now, elevating Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) perspectives in children’s geographies and exploring potentialities of mapping in analog as well as emerging digital forms. We also aim to carry forward her commitments to listening to children with curiosity and care, rooted in a belief that young people know a lot about the world already and that they are fully capable of delving deep into complex processes and problems. As such, this collection situates young peoples’ here and now within sociopolitical landscapes, the wider nested systems and structures that constitute and reconstitute land, place, and children’s geographies.