Description
Book SynopsisDavid Blundell is Principal Lecturer and Programme Director for Education Studies at London Metropolitan University, UK. He is the author of
Education and Constructions of Childhood (Bloomsbury, 2012).
Trade Review[Blundell] writes in a highly engaging style, with a lightness and clarity that makes some very difficult theoretical material highly accessible to a wide audience. For this reason, the book will be an invaluable resource to support undergraduate teaching. * Education 3-13 *
Rethinking Children’s Spaces and Places deals with our complicated thinking about children and our sophisticated spatial theorizing in palatable and accessible ways. It opens up sometimes impenetrable empirical research in delightful ways, and as the book progresses the arguments build on and fold into each other in an engaging and understandable way. It will make converts to this research field of many students who get the opportunity to use it. * Stuart C. Aitken, Professor and Distinguished Faculty Member, San Diego State University, USA *
This book provides an accessible and comprehensive overview of academic work exploring the geographies of childhood and generates significant insights to how we can conceptualise space and place in children’s lives. Blundell pulls together a fascinating range of key studies and guides the reader though them, identifying what is most significant and establishing clear links between them. The result is an assured handling of a diverse range of material which enables the reader to move between the big picture and the detail, to get a clear sense of the underlying debates and theoretical traditions and how they relate to practical attempts to describe and explain childhood. This book will be a valuable resource for anyone studying childhood, education or preparing for teaching. It will also be of interest to anyone studying social sciences as a valuable insight into the contribution of a broadly geographical perspective to understanding the social world. * Lee Jerome, Associate Professor of Education, Middlesex University, UK *
This book presents thought provoking reflective engagement with contemporary issues related to children's spaces and places. It is underpinned by some complex theory which is related to a range of research to provide a rich understanding and critique of key themes throughout. Much awaited, this debate challenges thinking about the spaces children inhabit in an engaging manner. * Anne Kellock, Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies, Sheffield Hallam University, UK *
This book certainly challenges the representation of modern childhood. The author focuses on the vital contribution of children’s spaces and places in the construction of children’s social realities. The content is thought-provoking as it endorses the agency and diversity of children’s lives. This is an excellent resource for readers who wish to challenge ways of living and working with children. * Zeta Brown, Lecturer in Childhood, Families and Communities Studies, University of Wolverhampton, UK *
Table of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface Acknowledgements Preface
Part I: Debates, Dilemmas and Challenges: Childhood and the Place of Children 1. Introduction 2. Modern Childhood as a Symbolic Space and Children as Social Actors
Part II: The Issues and Debates Defined: Space, Place and Spatiality 3. Spatiality and Understanding Children’s Lives
Part III: Implications for Children’s Lives 4. Scholarisation and Institutional Spaces of Childhood 5. Playing Out: Range, Territories and Children’s Activity Space 6. Constructing Identities and Children in Relational Space 7. ‘Nature’ and Discursive Spaces of Childhood 8. Globalization and Future Spaces of Childhood Bibliography Index
