‘That street is taking us to home’: young children’s photographs of public spaces

ABSTRACT

Children’s identities constitute and are constituted by the everyday spaces they inhabit. Though there are innumerable accounts of what adults think public spaces like subways and city streets mean to children, fewer recorded accounts exist from young children themselves (Faulkner and Zolkos 2016, “Introduction.” In Critical Childhood Studies and the Practice of Interdisciplinarity, ix–xvii. Lexington: Lanham.). In this work I explored 2- – 5-year-old children’s conceptions of public space through the photographs they took and the narratives they told in and around those images. I focused on how children imaged their spaces, how their narrative fragments added layers of story to the images’ contents, and how their photographic performances acted as ‘visual voice’ (Burke 2005, “‘Play in Focus’: Children Researching Their Own Spaces and Places for Play.” Children Youth and Environments 15 (1): 27–53.), highlighting for us how they see themselves and their positions within the larger urban environment. The young children’s photographs depicted their growing autonomy and mobility within an urban context, attunements to non-human forms of the city, and knowledge of what it means to live in their communities.     

Obtaining meaningful informed consent: preliminary results of a study to develop visual informed consent forms with children

This pilot study explores children's understanding of informed consent (IC) and the potential of participatory visual methods for improving the IC process. Strategies used to improve the IC process have generated mixed evidence as to their ability to increase understanding and willingness to participate among potential research participants. Two workshops with 13 children aged 8–12 years were held to discuss the content of IC forms, particularly confidentiality and voluntary participation, and the children took photographs to represent these concepts. Simplified written IC forms generated boredom, disengagement, and/or anxiety for some children. Preliminary results of this pilot study indicate the potential to enhance the IC process by using participatory visual methods with children to make visual IC forms.     

Engaging with nature: nature affords well-being for families and young people in Finland

ABSTRACT

Contact with nature is increasingly being recognized as contributing to humans’ mental and physical health. This study explores how Finnish children, young people and families engage with nature during outdoor recreation. We apply a relational approach with the concept of affordance to understand better how engagement with nature affects their well-being. The study is based on thematic writings of 15- to 21-year-olds and on an ethnographic study of camping. Findings indicate that engagement with nature enables young people to calm down and to get away from the pressures of everyday life and affords close interaction for families. The relational approach makes visible that the more young people and families spend time in nature, the more they are able to perceive affordances that enhance their well-being. In future research and policy, the focus should be on how to support families’ engagement with nature by securing time and places for encountering nature.     

Inaccessible childhoods: evaluating accessibility in homes,schools and neighbourhoods with disabled children

Accessible built environments are a critical component of Canada’s commitment to disabled children’s ‘right to enjoy full and decent lives’ [United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1989. Convention on the Rights of the Child. New York. [Google Scholar]. Convention on the Rights of the Child. New York.] . Although valid, reliable research data about the accessibility of built environments are key to developing related policies, these data currently do not exist. To begin to redress this gap, we conducted a case study series followed by a survey to determine the accessibility of schools, homes and neighbourhoods directly from disabled children (The ScHaN Project). To present a concise summary of the findings that can inform equitable, evidence-based policies, we developed a scoring system for their homes, schools and neighbourhoods. Although our findings illustrate that eliciting and interpreting data from these children were complex undertakings, it is clear that none of these central environments met Canada’s obligation to enhance equity by enabling their access, inclusion and participation.     

Digital technologies,children and young people's relationships and self-care

Children's and young people's access to and use of digital technologies have received increasing attention in recent years. While influential UK media commentators have often focused on associated risks, researchers have taken a less exclusively problem-focused approach. Children and young people's use of, for example, social media and computer games to extend the spaces available to them in which to maintain relationships, to experiment with social identities, and to engage in an ‘economy of dignity’, however fragile, have all been highlighted. This paper builds on this work to further consider the role of such resources, accessed primarily through computers and mobile phones, as means of caring for oneself or ‘self-care’. It draws on a qualitative study which employed visual and audial methods to explore the sense of belonging (or not) of young people who have been ‘looked after’ by others than their biological parents, often in less affluent circumstances.     

Loosening/tightening spaces in the geographies of hanging out

The article is based on research conducted with young people who spend their free time hanging out in a shopping mall and its surroundings in the city centre of Helsinki, Finland. ‘Geographies of hanging out’ is understood here as an interaction between the location and young people: the space offers affordances to the young people and thus affects their ways of being. At the same time, they give new meanings to the space by hanging out and thus take part in the production of that space. Empirical material gathered in the project includes the researcher's observations, in-depth interviews conducted with young people, youth workers, the police and the management of the mall and the photographs taken by the young participants. In this article, hanging out is interpreted as a process where ‘looseness’ and ‘tightness’ of space are negotiated and re-defined. Shopping malls are seen as spaces where boundaries between public and private are often blurred. The presence of young people can make these commercial spaces tighter or looser and thus change the nature of urban space not only for the young people, but for other urban dwellers, too.     

Digital diaries: new uses of PhotoVoice in participatory research with young people

ABSTRACT

New technology offers extremely novel and useful ways of exploring ‘the everyday’ of young people’s lives and can include videos, live feeds filmed on social media, text messages, email communication, and messaging or headset communication on gaming consoles. The significance of mobile communication in the lives of young people means that digital diaries offers alternate ways of implementing PhotoVoice methods. This viewpoint proposes the ways in which digital diaries are a useful method of collecting data in research with young people and highlights the challenges and ethical concerns that must be considered when using this method.     

Twentysomethings and twentagers: subjectivities,spaces and young men at home

This article examines young men's (aged 18–25 years) meanings of home and practices of homemaking, comprising material and social relations. The discussion contributes to three areas of geographical interest: home, masculinities and youth. Both geographies of home and masculinities have begun to consider men's experiences and meanings of home, but young men's domestic practices remain largely unexamined. Geographical work on youth has examined housing transitions, but the gendered experiences of young men need further interrogation. To provide insight into young men's homemaking, this article presents qualitative case studies drawn from fieldwork that investigated relations between masculinities and domesticities in Sydney, Australia. Young men are arguably out-of-place at home in conventional discourses of gender and space, but homes are nevertheless crucial sites for shaping masculine subjectivities. Masculinities and homes are co-constituted through domestic practices, generating diverse intersectional subjectivities and spaces. In this article, three subjectivity-space, or masculine-domestic, relations are discussed, which also counter the centring of heterosexual couple family homes in domestic imaginaries: young men in parental homes, share-housing and ‘alternative’ family homes. I examine similarities and differences across and within these masculine domesticities. This multiplicity of ‘youthful masculine domesticities’ offers a set of qualitative examples for use in public rhetoric that seeks to redress uneven gender dynamics in contemporary domestic life.     

Introduction: young people,gender and intersectionality

There are close connections between feminist geographies and young people's geographies with their shared interests in challenging inequality, questioning power relations and in conducting ethically sensitive and nuanced research. The introduction to this themed section synthesises some of the key developments in youth geographies and the contributions that feminist geographers have made to this field. Following this, we explore how the articles in this themed section are valuable additions to the evolving body of work on youth, gender and intersectionality.     

Communicating environmental knowledges: young people and the risk society

In this paper I illustrate how an increased demand for the communication of environmental knowledges in contemporary society can be understood using ideas purported by the risk society thesis. In order to deepen these connections and understandings I discuss how trust, and by association doubt, are constructed by examining the interesting, though little explored example of young people. Drawing on empirical work at a botanical garden with over 150 young people between 6 and 12 years old, I provide insights into the use and negotiation of trust and doubt in practice.     

透光摄影在古书画修复与研究中的应用

透光摄影由常规可见光摄影发展而来，是针对中国古书画等能被可见光穿透的文物开发的一项无损摄影检测技术。通过实践发现透光摄影在古书画的修复与研究领域具有多项作用：观察书画命纸、背纸拼接等装裱情况；发现前人加固、补缀等修复痕迹；获取画面底稿内容；强化伤况视觉效果以便于分析文物伤况病害。透光摄影能够提供直观可靠的深层视觉信息，辅助修复人员了解文物内部状态，在古书画的修复与研究中发挥重要作用。     

Learning to belong? ‘Culture’ and ‘place making’ among children and young people in Hull,UK City of Culture 2017

ABSTRACT

Despite the rise of ‘child-friendly cities’ internationally, and a growing interest in youth engagement in urban planning, the role of children and young people in culture-led regeneration and ‘place making’ schemes, remains under-researched. Notwithstanding the wealth of research into childhood and youth cultures, little is known about the ways in which the abstract (and perhaps predominantly ‘adult’) notions of ‘culture’ and ‘place’ are negotiated by younger citizens. Drawing on participative research with schools across Hull, the UK City of Culture 2017, this contribution explores children’s and young people’s understandings of culture and place within this cultural regeneration event. Although our findings suggest that the City of Culture designation has brought benefits to children and young people in a marginalised city, there is still much to be learned from their often personal and informal interpretations of ‘place’ and ‘culture’, as well as the role played by schools in this context.     

Participant observation in obesity research with children: striated and smooth spaces

This article discusses the value of conducting participant observation in obesity research with children in an Australian community setting. Obesity is highly stigmatized, and the use of activity-based interviews exposed the intellectual and embodied consciousness that children negotiate when they take part in research about food and bodies. Instead of opening up possibilities, interview-based activities can lead to a moral correctness about healthy lifestyles. It was through participant observation, in engagement with what Deleuze and Guattari [1988 Deleuze, G., and F. Guattari. 1988. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. London: Athlone Press. [Google Scholar]. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. London: Athlone Press] call striated and smooth (or regulated and unregulated) spaces of children's everyday activities, that richer understandings of obesity and children's bodies became apparent. We argue that without participant observation, our understandings of what children say and draw about healthy lifestyles may be limited by the striated spaces in which we conduct our research and the constraints that accompany the cultural politics of childhood and obesity.     

A systematic review of climate change education: giving children and young people a ‘voice’ and a ‘hand’ in redressing climate change

ABSTRACT

The reality of anthropogenic climate change has been established ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ by leading scientists worldwide. Applying a systematic literature review process, we analysed existing literature from 1993 to 2014 regarding climate change education for children and young people, with the aim of identifying key areas for further research. While a number of studies have indicated that young people’s understandings of climate change are generally limited, erroneous and highly influenced by mass media, other studies suggest that didactic approaches to climate change education have been largely ineffectual in affecting students’ attitudes and behaviour. The review identifies the need for participatory, interdisciplinary, creative, and affect-driven approaches to climate change education, which to date have been largely missing from the literature. In conclusion, we call for the development of new forms of climate change education that directly involve young people in responding to the scientific, social, ethical, and political complexities of climate change.     

Children’s participation in research on sensitive topics: addressing concerns of decision-makers

ABSTRACT

Although there is general agreement about children’s engagement in social research, some researchers continue to experience challenges when seeking approval and support for children’s participation from a range of adult stakeholders, particularly when the research involves a sensitive topic. These challenges may reflect different perspectives, conflicting interests, needs or expectations. This paper explores factors that influence the decision-making of key stakeholder groups, including Human Research Ethics Committees, parents and organisational representatives. Building on the kind of objective, rational reasoning that underpins much ethical decision-making, the findings, from interviews with 42 participants across stakeholder groups, draw attention to influential issues grounded in perceptions of: the institution and researcher undertaking the research; the project itself; children’s characteristics and contexts. Collectively, such issues point to the critically important role of mutually respectful relationships between researchers and stakeholders as the basis for designing and implementing ethical research that gives close attention to stakeholder concerns.     

Family migration decision-making,step-migration and separation: children's experiences in European migrant worker families

Intra-European family migration has extended the realm in which families live and work in Europe. This paper joins a limited number of recent attempts to analyse family migration using a children-in-families approach [Bushin, N. 2009. Researching Family Migration Decision-Making: A Children-in-Families Approach.” Population, Space and Place, 15: 429–443]. In contrast to existing studies on this theme, our focus is on children's migration decision-making, experiences of step-migration and experiences of separation from parents during processes of intra-European family migration. Little is known about children's views and experiences of step-migration and separation from their parent(s) during family migration. Such experiences have implications for the spatial and temporal construction of family and childhood in Europe, where transnational mobility is increasing. This paper discusses children's experiences of separation in two research contexts, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, to illustrate common features of the phenomena. The paper analyses family relationships relevant to migration decisions and explains their effects on children's agency, as well as on family integrity itself.     

Nitrate ruins: the photography of mining in the Atacama Desert,Chile

A photographic album entitled Oficina Alianza and Port of Iquique 1899 illustrates the industrial development of nitrate mining in Chile. From the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth, British capitalists dominated the extraction of Chilean nitrate and its export as a fertilizer and an explosive. The Oficina Alianza, a nitrate works at the centre of British monopoly of the trade, is, as other oficinas across the Antofagasta and Tarapacá regions of the Atacama Desert, a ruin. This article considers the correspondences between Alianza’s photographic album, a record of a working nitrate oficina, and its abandoned industrial structures. It examines the ruin and the photograph as Benjaminian allegories.     

The student is not the fisherman: temporal displacement of young people's identities in Tanzania

This paper examines how young Tanzanians have their identities as environmental actors displaced into the future by local adults, teachers, educational institutions and teaching materials which seek to educate them about environmental sustainability and conservation. Whilst there has been considerable attention to young people's agency in reproducing their own identities, I argue here that the temporal displacement of young identities operates through a network of interlinked structures which act on young people's lives, including the identity work of young people themselves. Educational material produced by non-governmental organisations and the discursive work of adults both seek to position young people as having agency to act in and make decisions about the environment at an undetermined time in the future. Young people themselves can perform different identities within the space of the school and in the community or family, yet they may also understand their own identities as only having agency at a temporally distant point. The displacement of young identities has important implications for pedagogy which relates to environmental education, and for how the reproduction of young people's identities is conceptualised.