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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Schooling subjectivities across the post-apartheid city
Author:Fataar, AslamISNI
Year:2009
Periodical:Africa Education Review (ISSN 1814-6627)
Volume:6
Issue:1
Pages:1-18
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:schools
mobility
social environment
urban population
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18146620902857202
Abstract:The focus of this article is on the subjectivities associated with the changing schooling landscape in the postapartheid city, South Africa. Urban practices in the city of Cape Town form the backdrop. The author's premise is the view that what people become, their sense of self, can be understood by considering their daily interaction with the city's schools. The desire for quality schooling must be understood in the light of the lived practices that people establish across the city's geographies. Mobility is central to these practices. The article traverses a number of geographic spaces to provide a heterodox view of how schooling in the city is lived. It opens with a discussion of the interaction between 'lived space' and the subjectivities people take on as they navigate the city's schools. Next, with reference to a specific geographic example, the author discusses how suburban schools go about establishing their identifications in relation to the complex ways people access them from beyond the confines of their immediate neighbourhoods. It is suggested that incoming students are assimilated into the hegemonic culture of these suburban schools. Third, the author focuses on the lived spatial dimensions of schooling and their attendant subjectivities in black township spaces. Finally, the article considers the movement across 'lines of subordination' by children who move from a black African township to schools in adjacent coloured areas. This form of school choice is marked by 'truncated desire', based on these students' unmet expectations in the culturally alienating environment of their new schools. The article draws on the author's ongoing National Research Foundation (NRF) project entitled 'Educational renovation in urban spaces', based on qualitative work in a number of school sites in Cape Town. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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