Critical Geographies In/Of Education: Revisiting Discursive and Spatial Reckonings

This book assembles pioneering work that first applied critical geography's concepts to educational theory, offering a comprehensive introduction to this emerging field. In recent years, spatial theory has transcended traditional geography, permeating diverse academic disciplines, particularly within social theory.

The volume demonstrates how spatial and discursive frameworks can fundamentally reshape our understanding of education across formal and informal contexts. By examining how spatial practices and embodied experiences configure learning environments, the chapters in this volume illuminate the profound impact of the "spatial turn" on educational discourse. Through compelling examples from schools, classrooms, and communities, they explore how spatial dynamics shape educational experiences and interactions.

Featuring the special issue on Critical Geographies of Education originally published in Education Studies, this book is complemented by new reflection pieces that trace the field's intellectual development. Its interdisciplinary framework offers valuable insights for scholars across Sociology of Education, Cultural Studies, Urban Education, Curriculum Theory, and Teacher Education. Graduate students investigating the complex intersections of space, place, power, and identity in educational contexts will find this collection an indispensable resource that bridges theoretical foundations with practical applications.

Robert J. Helfenbein is Professor of Curriculum Studies in the Tift College of Education at Mercer University. Dr. Helfenbein has published numerous research articles about contemporary education analysis in urban contexts and the single author book Critical Geographies of Education: Space, Place, and Curriculum Inquiry (Routledge, Summer 2021). His current research interests include curriculum theorizing in urban contexts, cultural studies of education, critical geographies of education and contemporary social theory, and the impact of globalization on the lived experience of schools.

Hill Taylor is an educator and researcher whose work explores the intersections of the health humanities, blue humanities, and the dynamic relationships between humans and their environments. Before joining the English and Comparative Literature department at the University of North Carolina in 2021, he served as Assistant Professor and Director of the Office of Learning Support at Oregon Health & Science University. His scholarship bridges composition and rhetoric, environmental and health humanities, and critical approaches to geography and place-based education.