Young people’s social worlds are at least as important to their experience of – and engagement with – education as any formal curricular activities.
They are potentially transformational in how the identity categories which frame a host of dis/advantages and inequalities in societies are understood and performed relationally – race, ethnicity, class, gender, sex, sexuality, religion and dis/ability.
Young people’s agencies are constrained and emerge within broader socio-spatial contexts – their homes, media messages, education, curricula, available resources and so on. Yet, friendships forged across diversity can transform enduring differences, both in the moment and in ways that might endure and transform future societies.
The concept of immersive geographies explores how the spaces of schools and other places where young people come together can, over time, provide opportunities to challenge and change enduring social differences.
Drawing upon extensive qualitative research, Professor Holt’s lecture will explore how young people’s sociality transforms and challenges enduring differences tied to disability and Special Educational Needs, class and poverty, and race / ethnicity. She will also reflect on how these micro-geographies can have a resonance beyond their times and spaces to have transformative potentials.
The recording of the lecture is available below. Louise's talk begins at 42:22.