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Counter-Mapping for Social Justice

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Politics, Citizenship and Rights

Part of the book series: Geographies of Children and Young People ((GCYP,volume 7))

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Abstract

This study underscores the importance of place in the political formation of young people. In the research project, students from a middle school in Seattle were asked to map significant historical sites associated with women or an ethnic group in the city. The 29 seventh graders worked in teams and collaborated extensively on each of the mapping projects. The researchers used a participatory action research framework to study the varied ways in which the students began to comprehend how space is actively produced through human agency. Topics and themes that emerged as important included processes of spatial inclusion and exclusion for the historical groups that were studied, as well as the possibilities of challenge and contestation of those processes that were considered unjust. Some of these possibilities of challenge and political agency for the students were made evident through their own collaborative mapping projects.

Research in this article was supported by the National Geographic Education Foundation (#2008–UI03); and the Spencer Foundation (#20100052). Portions of this chapter also appeared in “From Redlining to Benevolent Societies: The Emancipatory Power of Spatial Thinking,” Theory and Research in Social Education 40, 2012, pp. 134–163.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, University of Washington, Smith Hall 408, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Katharyne Mitchell & Sarah Elwood

Authors
  1. Katharyne Mitchell
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  2. Sarah Elwood
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Correspondence to Katharyne Mitchell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University Tampere, Tampere, Finland

    Kirsi Kallio

  2. Department of Geography, University of Loughborough, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

    Sarah Mills

  3. Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Tracey Skelton

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Mitchell, K., Elwood, S. (2015). Counter-Mapping for Social Justice. In: Kallio, K., Mills, S., Skelton, T. (eds) Politics, Citizenship and Rights. Geographies of Children and Young People, vol 7. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4585-94-1_19-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4585-94-1_19-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-4585-94-1

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