Scaffolding spatial literacy: Palestinian-Israeli mothers teach their children to read social relations in Israeli society/spaces

Abstract

This article looks at how Palestinian-Israeli middle-class mothers, who enjoy the advantages of the middle class yet belong to a geographically and socially marginalized minority, educate their children in and about socio-spatial reality. The study brings the field of geographies of parenting into dialogue with relevant insights from literacy studies. Building on the concept of spatial literacy developed through previous ethnographic research with Palestinian-Israeli women university-students, we analyze recent interviews on mothering and education carried out with the same population more than a decade later. Borrowing Vygotsky’s concept of scaffolding, findings reveal three major ‘scaffolding strategies’ used by the women to teach their children to read social relations in Israeli society: shaping the learning environment, directing spatial proficiency and supporting spatial proficiency. Throughout, we juxtapose the women’s elaboration of spatial literacy as students and of scaffolding strategies as mothers. The study contributes to geographies of parenting by elucidating how parent-child interactions may serve as a context for learning about space and social relations.