Moving Spatial Knowledge to Material Action: Revisiting GIS as a Research Tool

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 53
  In Roundtable Session: Space and Place in Qualitative Research

Abstract

Research supports using GIS to inform and direct action in geographic and urban planning (Thatcher, 2013); however, fewer studies use GIS with students in participatory research to analyze power, privileges, and oppression, moving toward action. This paper provides historical context for GIS in research, and considers GIS as a research tool within Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) with ideas of new materialism and spatial theory intertwined in the analysis. As meaning shifts through an interplay of social, linguistic, and material interactions (Barad, 2007), GIS has the unique ability to show fluidity yet connectedness across geographic borders, providing intriguing opportunities in participatory research. Moreover, it could demonstrate the ways in which “space matters,” akin to other work driven by spatial theory.

Authors

• Jayna Lynn McQueen, Texas Christian University

• Gabriel Stephen Huddleston, Texas Christian University

• Erin Atwood, Texas Christian University