Ethnogeography A future for primary geography Everyday geography

Ethnogeography A future for primary geography?

Everyday geography School geography

A new paradigm for primary geography? • That enables learners to recognise the value of their everyday experiences and that they are already thinking geographically in their everyday lives • That is suited to the context that they are living (and working) in • Ethnogeography (geography of people, culture)

Ethnomathematics • A key assumption in this field … is that, through interacting in a myriad of dailylife activities, people already think and, more specifically, they think mathematically Frankenstein and Powell (1994: 74)

A dichotomy in education • • • Subjectivity and objectivity Action and reflection Teaching and learning Knowledge and its applications Practical, everyday knowledge and abstract, theoretical knowledge

The place of geography in education • What is it for? • Why is it in the curriculum? • To make the world a better place? • To learn to live ‘well’ in the world? • To work towards a just and sustainable society?

Freirian concept of education The dominant discourse is that of the powerful and does nothing to reflect the lived experiences or culture of the oppressed - Students (ITE) - Pupils (primary schools) - Teachers (National Curriculum)

Linking practical and academic • Within a liberatory paradigm the voice of the academic or specialist should not be ignored • To replace the privileging of one group with that of another would be just a questionable

Geographical Imagination • • • Place Scale Location Function Social, economic, environmental and political dimensions • Sustainable development

Geographical Imagination • Where are the people? • Where am I in this? • What has it to do with me? • Why should I care about this place?

Geographical Imagination • Tourism • Local-global links • Culture and social injustice • Scale • Awe and wonder • Fragility of environments • Sustainable development

Linking practical and academic • How can we enable learners to see the link between everyday experiences and the ways in which geographers make sense of the world?

Ethnogeographical Imagination Geographical Imagination Ethnogeography K/S/U/V ? ? ?

Everyday geography School geography

Ethnogeography - whose voices? • Pupils - Simon Catling, Arthur Kelly, Susan Pike, Nicola Ross and Chris Spencer (IRGEE 2005 in press) • Students - Simon Catling (2004), Fran Martin (2000, 2004, 2005) • Teachers - ? ? • People in place and space, being-in-the-world: phenomenological origins of geography, personal geographies