Space

Abstract

When we think of places to study, it is typically not classrooms, lecture halls, or seminar rooms that come to mind. It may still happen there, if an instructor ends the seminar early or when the substitute teacher hasn’t received any instructions and declares the class a “study hall,” or when students use a classroom after the end of the school day. But the way we commonly think of it, studying takes place outside of and between places specifically designated for teaching and learning: in the library, the student lounge, in hallways, the cafeteria, the schoolyard, on the school bus or a commuter train, in a coffee shop, or the living room couch. And while we might think of studying primarily as a solitary activity, it is also done with or alongside others, in homework clubs or study groups. And if we broaden our use of the term even just slightly, we may include conversations with friends or family members, a librarian, the school custodian, or a store clerk. The question considered in this chapter is how the way we think of the spatial features of educational institutions can inspire study in such a broader and/or a specifically Agambenian sense—namely as an activity that is not just auxiliary to what is happening in the spaces designated for learning (cramming for a test, doing research for a term paper), but one that is—broadly speaking—done for its own sake.