Turning space into place: The place-making practices of school girls in the informal spaces of their high school

• Published in: Research in education (Manchester) Vol. 104; no. 1; pp. 24 - 42
• Main Authors: Fataar, Aslam, Rinquest, Elzahn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.08.2019; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Biographies; Classroom communication; Classrooms; Diaries; Educational Environment; Elicitation; Environmental Influences; Ethnography; Females; Focus Groups; Foreign Countries; Girls; High School Students; Interaction; Lefebvre, Henri (1901-1991); Participant Observation; Photography; School Culture; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Social Networks; Space; Space Utilization; Student Characteristics; South Africa (Cape Town); place identity; high school; Place-making; girls; school culture; space
• ISSN: 0034-5237; 2050-4608
• DOI: 10.1177/0034523718791920

This article explores the place-making and identifications practices of two high school girls in the out-of-classroom spaces of their school. We employ Henri Lefebvre's spatial triad, consisting of the interaction between the physical, social and mental dimensions of space, as the conceptual foundation for understanding how these girls turn space into place at their school. The article is based on an ethnographic study in which we utilised a range of methods, including unstructured, semi-structured and photo-elicitation interviews; participant observation; focus group discussions; student-produced photography and photo-diaries. We found that the ways in which the girls inhabited and ‘made place’ in the school's out-of-classroom spaces are determined by their unique biographies, interactions with the school's expressive culture, and the subsequent social networks, movements and practices that they mobilise in these out-of-classroom spaces. Via these daily practices, they turn their school spaces into a place which, in their unique ways, they are able to call home.