Abstract
This article examines the relationships between children’s everyday lives and geographical education. Drawing on research with five young people in London, the article examines their narratives, analysed as relating to race and territory, critically considering the relationships between children’s geographies and the geographies of race and racism in schools. Following hooks, the article begins with the argument that there is value in ‘teaching to transgress’ to challenge both legacies of imperialism in geography and education, and the inequalities and injustices that many children face. Following this, the article introduces the research, drawing on Aitken to argue the importance of consideration of children’s voice, presence and rights in (geographical) education, before sharing the narratives of the young people. The article concludes by arguing for a reconceptualization of how ‘the child’ is constructed, and valued, in education.
Highlights
As a text to be read, everyday life is a perpetual palimpsest: it is continually being re-written. (Elden, 2004: 111) This quotation is taken from Elden’s analysis of Lefebvre’s Critique of Everyday Life
The social and spatial inequalities embedded in what Harvey (2020) describes as ‘an old collapsing bourgeois society ... pregnant with all kinds of ugly things – like racism and xenophobia’, ever-present, have found themselves in the spotlight shone by the COVID-19 pandemic and responses to the virus, anthropogenically induced ecological and climate crises and movements such as Black Lives Matter responding to events including the murder of George Floyd and continually challenging systemic racism
It can be seen that Aitken (2018a) is arguing for a radical transformation of the spaces and places that weproduce, with a focus on enabling children to live the lives they want,create spaces in a manner they choose and write the futures they choose for themselves and for the world. When these arguments are applied to geographical education, the significance of valuing, and exploring, children’s everyday geographies in education becomes clearer, and it can be seen to support the development of more just relationships between the child, their teachers and geography through recognizing that the child has voice and presence
Summary
As a text to be read, everyday life is a perpetual palimpsest: it is continually being re-written. (Elden, 2004: 111) This quotation is taken from Elden’s analysis of Lefebvre’s Critique of Everyday Life. It can be seen that Aitken (2018a) is arguing for a radical transformation of the spaces and places that we (as individuals, communities and societies) (re)produce, with a focus on enabling children to live the lives they want, (re)create spaces in a manner they choose and write the futures they choose for themselves and for the world When these arguments are applied to geographical education, the significance of valuing, and exploring, children’s everyday geographies in education becomes clearer, and it can be seen to support the development of more just relationships between the child, their teachers and geography through recognizing that the child has voice and presence. I draw on the arguments put forward so far, and the young people’s narratives, in the conclusion of the article
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