Geographies of Hanging Out: Connecting Everyday Experiences with Formal Education

Abstract

The above quote is from a participant’s evaluation of a project carried out in the spring of 2013 in Helsinki, Finland, as part of a ninth-grade geography course. The aim of the project, ‘Geographies of hanging out’, was for the young people to reflect on their spaces and practices of hanging out, and to produce new understandings of their home city. The quote suggests that the girl was moved by the project, that the experience was somehow affectual. The feeling that geography can be fun is essential here, since in this chapter I approach learning as something that becomes possible through being meaningfully engaged with a process of working collaboratively. To do this, I will talk about mental mapping by young people of their hanging out and places that matter to them in the city. Rather than treating the mental maps produced by the participants as complete representations of their everyday geographies, I understand them as mappings. Conceptualised in this way, maps are spatial practices that are transitory and fleeting; they are never finished (Kitchin and Dodge, 2007). The emphasis is, therefore, on the process of exploring, drawing and learning together, rather than on any clearly assessable outcomes. When space is left for improvisation and mapping takes place within an atmosphere of friendship, the fear of making mistakes is reduced and learning can be fun.

Geography can also be fun!

(Girl, 15 years old)