Should we only teach about real people and real places?

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article offers a discussion of teaching about real people and places. Examples of not-real people and places in the influential publication Thinking Through Geography (Leat, 2001) are critically discussed, and an argument is made against the teaching of geography through not-real people and places. The examples from Thinking Through Geography are suggested to: be necessarily limited in a way that sources about real people and places are not; include a problematic hidden curriculum; and offer a type of representation that positions imaginary places as if they were real. What ‘the real’ means is explored, and it is argued that, while teaching about not-real people and places is potentially highly problematic, simply teaching about ‘the real’ is impossible. A notion of ‘useful fictions’ is offered, and suggestions are made for further engagement with representation and abstraction in school geography.