Studying region, network, fluid, and fire in an educational programme working against social inequalities

Abstract

Debates on the neoliberalization and privatization of education have recently contributed fresh impulses to the critical engagement of geographies of education, which is known for its longstanding interest in the reproduction of social inequalities. This paper furthers this engagement in two ways. First, it draws on an empirical study of a private, nonprofit preparatory programme that trains aspirational students from disadvantaged backgrounds for a highly selective entrance examination for state-funded secondary schools in Zurich, Switzerland. In doing so, the paper moves beyond the Anglophone pivot in the field, which has been a source of self-critique. Second, we take this empirical site a point from which to think through the study programme as an ‘object multiple’ that is engrained in Actor-Network Theory. Drawing on the four ontological metaphors of region, network, fluid, and fire, we assert that educational transitions serve as magnifying glasses which lay bare complex social effects of supplementary education on students, increasing social inequalities and subtle forms of conforming to and resisting of the neoliberalization of education and uncomfortable, yet thought-provoking aspects of discrimination. We conclude that the replication of white supremacy requires more reflection not only within a programme that was installed with the intent of supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds but also in our engagement as critical geographers within educational schemes.