The spatial ways democracy works: On the pedagogy of common places. Why, why now?

Abstract

Democratic practices have their places; democracy is spatial in its very nature. From this perspective, the study of democracy can be developed as an analytical description of the places where democratic dialogue is practiced. The issue of dialogue practices, which are of educational character and become one of the versions of public pedagogy, which is especially needed in the current time of the assault on public space, defines the profile of these studies. Hence, in the text, I propose a direction of thinking that draws attention to the educational value of democratic commonality and inscribes it in the pedagogical reflection around the common places. Finally, I describe an area of pedagogical thought and educational practices which I call the “pedagogy of the common places” – the spatial version of the public pedagogy. Specifically, the paper – by asking why, why now? and answering through discussing practices of the nationalization of public sphere, and the recent rise of nationalism in Poland – will explore how the educational, spatial perspective can be fruitful as sketching new forms of thinking and doing democracy.