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Exploring Space and Politics with Children: A Geosocial Methodological Approach to Studying Experiential Worlds

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Research Handbook on Childhoodnature

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

Abstract

The chapter introduces a methodological approach that the author has developed for the empirical and analytical exploration of children’s geosocial worlds. It builds on a threefold conceptual baseline: political subjectivity as a human capacity, topological polis as a relational context of living, and the political referring to subjectively experienced and socially shared, contextually forming matters of importance. These three interrelated starting points provide the theoretical ground and its methodological framework for exploring the worlds where children lead their lives, from their perspectives and with them, through spatially embedded narrations that unveil situated and contextual truths. For empirical inquiry, I have operationalized the geosocial approach into three analytical layers, focusing on social, spatial, and political relationalities. The chapter describes the methodological approach, including a theoretical introduction and a thorough explanation of the geosocial analytical means, and empirical illustrations that inform a politicized notion of childhoodnature. It concludes with recommendations for ongoing methodological inquiry into children’s social and environmental worlds and further theorization of the geosocialities of childhoodnature, as limited by the empirical contexts informing this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space and Political Agency Research Group (SPARG), RELATE Centre of Excellence, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Kirsi Pauliina Kallio

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  1. Kirsi Pauliina Kallio
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Correspondence to Kirsi Pauliina Kallio .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Southern Cross University School of Education, Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia

    Amy Cutter-Mackenzie

  2. Centre for Educational Research, Western Sydney University Centre for Educational Research, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia

    Karen Malone

  3. Department of Education, University of Bath Department of Education, Bath, United Kingdom

    Elisabeth Barratt Hacking

Section Editor information

  1. Science Education, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada

    Paul Hart

  2. Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Phillip Payne

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Kallio, K.P. (2018). Exploring Space and Politics with Children: A Geosocial Methodological Approach to Studying Experiential Worlds. In: Cutter-Mackenzie, A., Malone, K., Barratt Hacking, E. (eds) Research Handbook on Childhoodnature . Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51949-4_125-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51949-4_125-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51949-4

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  1. Latest

    Exploring Space and Politics with Children: A Geosocial Methodological Approach to Studying Experiential Worlds
    Published:
    20 June 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51949-4_125-2

  2. Original

    Exploring Space and Politics with Children: A Geosocial Methodological Approach to Studying Experiential Worlds
    Published:
    02 April 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51949-4_125-1

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