Social Space Research Articles

Towards education with a shared language: language learning strategies adopted by newly arrived immigrant and refugee adolescents in Danish schools

Learning a new language is a challenge facing most young immigrants and refugees arriving in a new resettlement country. Yet, learning the resettlement country language is critical for the young immigrants and refugees’ life chances, in terms of future education, social integration, and participation in the labour market. While literature concerned with Language Learning Strategies (LLS) points to the determining effects of social and physical learning environments on language acquisition, few studies have systematically examined how LLS are practiced in the social and educational contexts of preparatory classes for newcomer adolescents. Guided by the concept of LLS, we qualitatively explore the tactics adopted by 85 newcomer adolescents in Danish preparatory classes when learning the Danish language. We disentangle a range of different social and affective language learning strategies such as interacting with native speakers, practising with people sharing the same language skills, and using laughter and exchanging praise to overcome nervousness and anxiety. We highlight how these informal strategies interact and how the newcomer students adopt the strategies to facilitate their language learning. We argue that preparatory classes serve as unique social and educational spaces for supporting the development of social and affective language learning strategies that constructively interact to create conducive conditions for language acquisition.

On the practical rationality of the use of homeopathy in the German-speaking social space: An integrated approach using geometric data analysis and regression analysis

On the practical rationality of the use of homeopathy in the German-speaking social space: An integrated approach using geometric data analysis and regression analysis

Stressful life in high-rise tenements: gendered experiences of tiredness and pressure in Pipeline, Nairobi

This article explores how the dense living conditions in Pipeline, a high-rise residential settlement in Nairobi, create gendered forms of stress and constraint on tenants’ lives and everyday realities, affecting their social interactions and relations. The cramped residential district comprises dense rows of multistory private rental flats predominantly inhabited by young, migrant individuals and families. Many of these tenants are unemployed, or employed in low-wage industrial work, precarious gig work, or domestic work. Based upon fieldwork and qualitative interviews, the article zooms in on physical and social spaces occupied by urban residents, such as apartments, corridors, balconies, and chamas (economic self-help groups) to explore actors’ gendered experience of stress and their strategies to reduce social, economic, and romantic pressure. Of special pertinence for this paper is the question of how the experience of stress intersects with gender relations. We argue that understanding the experience of ‘pressure’ as a masculine and the experience of ‘tiredness’ as a feminine reaction towards adverse living conditions opens new analytical perspectives on twenty-first century urban life.

Brampton, Browntown, or Bramladesh? A Critique of the Hate Speech Used Against Racialized Spaces in Canada

This study investigates the online hate narratives around South Asian citizens in Canada. The value of this research is that it challenges the perception of Canadian multiculturalism and by addressing the reality of multiculturalism, it reveals the racial hierarchical structure within ‘equal’ multicultural state like Canada. In this study we connect early 20th century history of recently arrived South Asian migrants to British Columbia to the literature of white nationalism and white fantasy, the myths of multiculturalism and the racist nature of online platforms to expose a shift towards the perspective and acceptance of South Asian people in Canada. Here, the study compiles 120 comments identified as hate speech and organized the comments into categories of general South Asian hate, specific Punjabi hate, specific Indian hate, commentary on social space, insult towards linguistic abilities and claims advocating for deportation from Canada and when relevant, the comments are categorized into subcategories of ‘Becoming India’, white replacement theory and loss of Canadian culture. The results of this coding showcase that the most prevalent narrative found in the YouTube comments were commentary on social space and more precisely commentary on white replacement theory. The implication of this dominant narrative is that it signals to a growing resistance to racialized spaces in Canada. This implication allows for the argument that online platforms such as YouTube should be viewed as an extension to the body of the dominant white nationalist structure in colonial society because these platforms are able to encourage and sustain a white fantasy and white power structures through the platforms structural racist nature that encourage the growth of hate narratives online.

Place and infrastructure in the energy transition: planning with community ties and environmental social value

Abstract The energy transition from predominantly fossil- to non-fossil resources will significantly reshape land use and the built environment, and with it, people’s relationships with place. Especially during the infrastructure-intensive “mid-transition” period during which fossil and non-fossil energy systems operate simultaneously with overlapping functions, understanding how people adapt to, value, or resent living with these infrastructures can enable value-informed design and planning efforts. Here, we use conventional qualitative coding methods with machine learning validation to investigate survey responses from people in the US and Australia who already share space with large-scale energy production regarding their natural and social environments. We focus on 1) how individuals use measures of environmental quality to describe not just their natural or physical environment, but also their community; and 2) how and whether shared natural and social spaces facilitate feelings of well-being and belonging, with the goal of informing consultation and planning for the peak infrastructure mid-transition period. We find a blended understanding of nature and culture, with respondents noting tradeoffs from hosting powerful local industry, but also the value of nature as an antidote to deteriorated or low-quality social spaces. We observe a resistance to change paired with a keen sense of loss of local control such that industry is perceived as an outside force, even when formative for local culture and landscapes. Green spaces and good quality air and water are not just measures of how well the environment is doing, but also a benchmark people use to describe how well their community is doing. Themes are notably consistent across the communities included in this analysis, diverse in their size, resource endowment, and industrial history. This work suggests attention to safeguarding and expanding the shared spaces, institutions, and economies that foster strong social ties could improve community outcomes during transition.

The Armenian Presence in Vienna: From the Coffeehouse to the Church and Back

Vienna, one of Europe’s most historically significant cities, has been a focal point for numerous diaspora communities. Among these, the Armenians stand out due to their long-standing history in the city, with records of their presence dating back to the 17th century. This paper explores the contributions and experiences of the Armenian community in Vienna, focusing on how Armenian culture has been preserved and adapted via certain social spaces (coffeehouses, libraries, monasteries, and churches) and how these spaces have acted as cultural hubs for the diaspora. By examining the historical, cultural, and social background of these spaces, this study sheds light on how the Armenian community in Vienna navigates its heritage in a modern European context.

Social Engagement is Associated With Location-based Digital Markers on a Dementia Care Unit.

Social Engagement is Associated With Location-based Digital Markers on a Dementia Care Unit.

Educational Engagement: On the Entangled Possibilities of Investments in Education

AbstractIn this article, Jan Frode Haugseth discusses a multidimensional model of educational engagement by outlining Laurent Thévenot's regimes of engagement in an educational setting. Haugseth argues that six intertwined regimes of educational engagement could be perceived to exist in tension with each other: formality, justice, familiarity, exploration, love/care, and retreat, all reflecting the relationship between cognition, bodies, and the environment (immediate surroundings as well as cultural and historical configurations). The regimes are simultaneously valid on a personal level, as engagement is established and maintained individually, and on a collective level, since engagement is shared and negotiated in a dynamic social space. The regimes differ from and complement each other, providing notions of benefits, tensions, and investments, while allowing for various forms of confidence and doubt. Many researchers study the causes of dropout and disengagement without a clear idea of what engagement truly entails: when students engage in all the rich facets of educational engagement and are able to freely transition among regimes, they develop a real sense of power over their own education.

Finding Their Place

The tyranny of distance is often perceived as the greatest challenge for teacher retention in rural and remote schools in Australia. Perhaps more accurately, it is the tyranny of placelessness. In this paper, we explore the role of place-connectedness and racial literacy in shaping the interactions of 21 primary and secondary teachers with the social space and place of one Western Australian remote town. Data were collected through interviews and focus groups and analysed with an emergent approach. We propose three levels of place-consciousness to describe the depth of awareness, skill and integration with which a teacher might connect to place and space: place-connectedness, place-willingness, and place-ignorance. We suggest that teachers who are place-connected, considering themselves not just geographically situated in a place but intrinsically connected to the people and culture of that place, are far more likely to achieve a sense of fulfilment and commitment in their roles as rural educators. These teachers value the capital within rural communities, move beyond the teacher social space to the community social space, and respectfully respond to Indigenous space and place. From our exploration, we make recommendations for the conscientisation of place in Initial Teacher Education and graduate teacher induction.

Noteworthy Insights at the Personal and Community Level – people with mental health difficulties and meaningful social spaces

Objective: The core value underlying this study is social inclusion. This paper studies how people with mental health difficulties find meaningful everyday life and identity as members of the community. The study focuses on the experiences and perspectives of individuals with mental health difficulties and their view and interpretation of connections with spaces, places, and people in the communities. It is essential to include their voices and actively involve them in the research process to comprehensively understand their needs, preferences, and goals concerning community-based recovery. Research Design and Methods: The research exhibits novelty in two fundamental aspects:18 persons with mental health difficulties participated as co-researchers, and for data collection, creative methods were used (creative writing, photovoice, etc.). Co-researchers live in apartment buildings in ordinary neighbourhoods and receive supported housing services in three Estonian cities. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The study combined creative methods such as diary entries, collages, or photovoice to include the first-person perspectives. Involving people with mental health difficulties acting as co-researchers is an innovative approach to this study. Results: The results identify the effect social interaction and visiting various places in the community can have on people. A place will have a deeper meaning for the person visiting when it relates to memories, emotions, supporting people, and likeable activities they can do there. Conclusions: It is important for the recovery process that people with mental health difficulties spend time in an environment that is suitable – flexible, appreciative, and supportive of development for them, providing both visual satisfaction, varieties of activity, and undemanding sociality, i.e. possibility to be connected with other people.

Who Feels Looked Down Upon? Sources of “Symbolic Violence” in the United States

This paper explores the factors increasing the chances of thinking one's cultural tastes and interests would be looked down upon by others, a sentiment put under the label of “symbolic violence” by Pierre Bourdieu. Using data from a survey fielded in the US in 2017–18 (n = 2,514), it examines the role of social position, lifestyle, family status and other properties. Multiple correspondence analysis is used to model both the US social space and the lifestyle system. Multinomial logit regression modeling then suggests the volume of economic and cultural capital possessed by individuals is key to anticipating symbolic violence, alongside age, gender and parental status, though capital composition plays a part in differentiating likelihoods of expressing neutrality on the question. Interactions are investigated using decision‐tree analysis. This reveals that subtle interplays between social position and other factors are at work in shaping the likelihood of feeling one would be looked down upon by others.

Hotels, refuge, and the rise of carceral hospitality

AbstractGeographical work on hotels has foregrounded their role as spaces of commercial hospitality, leisure, and increasingly as sites of emergency accommodation for a range of displaced groups. Developing such work, this paper critically examines the central role of hotels in accommodating and containing asylum seekers and refugees. By considering the use of hotels in the UK and Australia, we argue that the hotel is a durable and vitally important site of bordering, one that manifests many of the tensions and contradictions of state responses to asylum seekers and refugees. Far from being a marginal or temporary space, we centre the hotel as a critical site for the reproduction and maintenance of contemporary bordering. In doing so, the paper advances understanding of the hotel as a specific type of social, political and cultural space, associated with three dynamics that we explore in turn: forms of flexibility and emergency response, patterns of hospitality, and the violent displacements of the hotel as a site detached from ‘everyday life’. In surveying these understandings of the hotel, we argue that the cultural and political significance of the hotel as a site for understanding contemporary bordering emerges from its unique position at the confluence of the carceral and the hospitable. The paper thus proposes a concept of carceral hospitality, to designate the fraught positioning of the hotel between carceral conditions of institutional detention and spectacle, and the hospitable expectations more readily associated with sites of leisure, escapism and relaxation. It is this positioning that has allowed hotels in the UK and Australia to act as lightning rods for critical discussion and public concern over state responsibilities, welfare entitlements, and the narrowing scope of refugee protection.

A Study on the Influence of an Outdoor Built Environment on the Activity Behavior of the Elderly in Small Cities in Cold Regions—A Case Study of Bei’an City

Under the dual constraints of limited resources and cold climate, the built environment of small cities in cold areas has a particularly prominent impact on the outdoor activities of the elderly and the need for aging optimization. Based on a questionnaire survey and field measurement data, combined with multiple linear regression, Spearman correlation analysis, and difference analysis, this paper systematically discusses the effects of different built environment characteristics on outdoor activity behaviors (frequency, intensity, and stay time) of the elderly in Bei’an City, Heilongjiang Province, China. The difference in environmental satisfaction of the elderly with different genders, ages, and education levels was analyzed. The results show that green coverage, air quality, leisure facilities, and barrier-free facilities are the core environmental factors that significantly improve the activity behavior of the elderly. In contrast, noise level, road damage, and inadequate facility maintenance significantly inhibit the activity willingness of the elderly. It was found that older adults are more dependent on barrier-free facilities and site safety, while younger people pay more attention to sports facilities and social space. Older women pay more attention to environmental details and cultural elements, while men tend to evaluate environmental functionality and so on. Further analysis shows that green environments and leisure facilities in cold climates provide visual beauty and play an important role in improving air quality and enhancing mental health. These elements are particularly critical in winter activities for older people, demonstrating the potential of the built environment to promote health and social participation. Starting from the unique background of small cities in cold regions, this study verified the applicability of the WHO age-friendly city framework in small cities in cold climates through empirical data, and revealed the necessity of climate-adaptive design (such as winter anti-slip facilities and cold-resistant greening) to improve the activity behavior of the elderly, providing a regional supplement to the existing theories.

Understanding Chinese University Students’ Preferences for Nature-based Recreation in Urban Parks

Abstract：This study aim to measure the preference for nature-based recreation activities in parks among Chinese university students and identify key factors that influencing their choices. This research employ a quantitative approach, utilizing a structured questionnaire to collect data from 410 students, predominantly female, aged 21-23, and seniors. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to quantify the impact of environmental, individual and social demographic factors on students’ preferences. The findings reveal that students prioritize activities such as walking, sunbathing, and socializing, with factors like family income, gender, companionship, and park accessibility significantly influencing their preferences. Environmental knowledge and landscape elements further enhance preferences for photography, meditation, and outdoor sports. Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted certain activities, underscoring its influence on outdoor recreation. These insights highlight the importance of park accessibility, aesthetic design, and environmental education in shaping students' recreational choices. The study provides practical recommendations for urban park design, such as improving landscape elements and creating inclusive spaces that cater to the diverse needs of university students. By addressing these factors, urban parks can better serve as vital spaces for relaxation, socialization, and well-being, contributing to sustainable urban development.

Cooking alternatives: Rethinking food education from the perspective of social space

A partir de la década de 1980 la población latinoamericana ha experimentado un cambio de sus dietas tradicionales basadas en alimentos naturales a dietas donde predominan los productos ultraprocesados de alto contenido energético y baja calidad nutricional. Esto ha generado graves problemas de salud (malnutrición, diabetes, hipertensión y enfermedades cardiovasculares), ambientales, económicos, culturales y sociales. Las acciones para enfrentar esta problemática se han orientado mayormente al ámbito de la educación alimentaria desde enfoques pedagógicos clásicos (difusionista y nutricionista), los cuales consideran que el individuo puede elegir libremente qué comer si cuenta con la información alimentaria adecuada, pero no incluyen factores como el ingreso, la disponibilidad y los precios de los productos alimentarios, así como las preferencias culturales, que condicionan la elección de alimentos. Es decir, no se toma en cuenta que la producción y distribución de alimentos están marcadas por estructuras de poder y que reconocerlo es fundamental para cuestionar y ampliar la comprensión de las prácticas alimentarias. En este contexto, el presente artículo hace una revisión documental de distintos proyectos de educación alimentaria llevados a cabo con población hispana para analizar sus bases pedagógicas e identificar si consideran la influencia que tienen los sistemas de producción y distribución de alimentos sobre los hábitos alimentarios de la población, específicamente si toman en cuenta la relación entre las personas, el espacio social y sus elecciones de comida. Con base al análisis de los casos revisados se concluye que los proyectos de educación alimentaria no sólo deben ser escenarios de aprendizaje sobre nutrición, sino también lugares para cuestionar y reinventar las decisiones que se toman cotidianamente en el acto de comer, teniendo en cuenta la relación entre comientes, alimento y espacio social en el contexto del régimen alimentario global.

The Attitude of Children with a Migration Background to School Education as a Sign of Socio-psychological Adaptation

From the point of view of the child-centered approach, which emphasizes the activity and subjectivity of children, the importance of their experience, the mission of the school and the role of professionals (teachers, educational advisers, social workers) working with them and influencing the success of their adaptation are especially highlighted. Education is of particular importance in matters of adaptation and well-being of children with a migration background. The purpose of the article is to identify the specifics of the attitude to the learning process, existing school rules and social spaces of children with a migration background. The methodology of the study was based on the assumption that children with a migration background can perceive and interpret the learning processes, educational and social space differently, which is a sign of their sufficient / insufficient adaptation. The study was of a sociological and psychological nature. The sample consisted of 3861 students in grades 5–9, including 2955 children of the titular nation, 906 children with a migration history. The study used the survey method and focus groups. In conclusion, it is concluded that there is a difference in attitudes towards school, school rules, readiness for aggression in school relationships, perception of the teacher’s attitude, and parental involvement. There are a number of significant differences in attitudes towards various aspects of schooling between children of the titular nation and children with a migration history, which may be a sign of insufficient adaptation of the latter. Students with a migration background more often perceive the teacher as insulting and humiliating, and are afraid to go to the board. This is especially true for students with low language proficiency from families in which it is customary to communicate only in the national language.

Drug Addiction: Failure, Feast and Phoenix

This article offers a unique interdisciplinary theoretical examination of the stigmatisation of ‘drug addicts’ and its impacts on health and wellbeing. In the present conjuncture, drug addiction has become a metaphor for a ‘wasted’ life. The stigmatisation of addicts creates artificial monsters. They constitute matter out of place—addiction is dirt and the addict a form of symbolic pollution—as their excessive consumption means they are ostracised and branded as failures. Providing a tripartite framework—of failure, feast, and phoenix—this article will suggest that addiction occupies a contradictory social and conceptual space, at once cause, effect, and solution. It is in this context that the stigmatisation of addiction operates, despite the fact addicts constitute a consumer par excellence, solicited by the very system that seeks to punish, control, and cure them. Drawing on Girard’s generative scapegoat alongside the philosophical concept of the Muselmann, which parallels it, this paper will examine the hypocritical and contradictory portrayal, consumption and treatment of addiction; the social harm and stigmatisation arising from this portrayal; the systems of power and privilege that reproduce this; and how these systematically affect not only the health and wellbeing of addicts, but also their medical care and treatment. The health impacts arising from this framework will illustrate how scapegoating can lead to worsening mental and physical health, social isolation, and create barriers to treatment, which ultimately perpetuate the cycle of addiction that create public health challenges (e.g., drug-related deaths). The ensuing discussion will show how the addict is a symptom of capitalism and colonialism before it, sustaining it as well as serving as a convenient distraction from the systematic problems and illustrating the brutal realities of biopolitical power and its inherent contradictions. Only by understanding the broader socio-cultural and political implications of addiction within the context of late capitalism can we start to reduce stigma and scapegoating and focus on addiction as a medical issue rather than a moral and/or criminal one; a key to improving health outcomes.

“N8Vs Be Like…”: Processes of Authenticating Modern Indigenous Identities within Electronic Communal Spaces

Textual bricolages, colloquially known as memes (along with other highly textualized media), have come to communicate a vast array of political and ideational alignments among interlocutors who consort through media transferals on social media platforms. Here I focus specifically on how particular memes are strategically constructed and distributed through social media as transferable and transmutable markers of identity capable of establishing and distilling an insider group membership among culturally competent interlocutors while simultaneously establishing outsider status to those for whom the texts remain opaque or meaningless. While memes are often used to establish social and ideological alignments, the textual composites I consider here are constructed from semiotic resources which are relevant to, and indexical of, Native North American identities. I compare memes and other texts that are representative examples of how identity work is conducted through tactics of intersubjectivity within electronic spaces. I submit that these compound texts represent sites of resistance to hegemonic discourses by cultivating groups of belonging within a visible public realm. Because prevailing discourses that insist on the disappearance of Indigenous peoples from sites of colonial interest endure, these Indigenous created counternarratives, constructed within highly modern social spaces, are a powerful means for reclaiming authorship of representation and interrupting the established discourse of failure and disappearance. I show that, despite a dominant discourse that insists on the impossibility of a modern indigeneity, the creation of Indigenous memes for social media is actually part of ongoing collaborative projects of resistance—irrefutable evidence of ever-emergent modern Native American identities.

Text, Transit, and Transformation

The Aymara language is increasingly present in Bolivia’s largest metropolitan region. Developments in public transit transform residents’ relationship to urban social space and the location of Aymara within it. Transit signs include existing Aymara toponyms, but also descriptions of urban space without correspondence to Spanish toponyms. This essay combines text analysis with accounts of riders' experiences to argue the material textuality of bilingual signage suggests an assertion of Aymara hegemony in the city. Rather than just preserving heritage, this language policy intervention of bilingual signage throughout the city extends Aymara toponyms beyond areas of Indigenous confinement.

Student movements as drivers of de-sectarianization in divided societies: the case of Lebanon’s Secular Club

ABSTRACT The article examines a Lebanese anti-sectarian student movement and its potential for creating societal changes in the divided society of Lebanon. Existing scholarship on social movements in divided societies has demonstrated that movements are pivotal as agents of change but has primarily adopted a macro-perspective and treated anti-sectarian attitudes of people as a given. We, on the other hand, persist that to understand the de-sectarianizing power of movements we must understand how movements can change the attitudes and identities of those participating. This is especially important in a society marked by deep sectarian structures that have raised people into sectarian beliefs. What is then the attraction and impact of alternative political spaces, like student movements, in such contexts? We address these questions through a study of Secular Club at the American University of Beirut. Based on interviews and observations, we find that Secular Club’s educational and social spaces form a basis for students’ political awakening and development of a critical political consciousness. The club facilitates the creation of a strong collective counter-identity and imaginaries of political alternatives in opposition to the dominant societal structures. Our findings provide novel empirical insights into how an anti-sectarian student movement can lead to significant and long-lasting changes in identities and attitudes among participants, many of whom continue their activism after leaving the club. While anti-sectarian movements face challenges in achieving immediate political change, the case of Secular Club shows that they can be effective in nurturing new anti-sectarian activists and fostering alternative political discourses.