Place and Democracy: Student Leaders Making Place for the Greater Good of the School/Community

• In Event: Exploring the (Micro)Politic Tensions Inherent in Action Research

Abstract

John Dewey envisioned schools as democratic, embryonic societies where students practice being members of a community. Meanwhile, geographers accounts for the ways place is produced through place-making by the people living within space. I draw examples from observations and interviews with two high school student leaders’ everyday interactions in school spaces and with peers to illuminate the democratic visions and practices involved in their place-making. Their place-making includes instances of cooperation, communication, encouragement, and simply creating enjoyment, all for the greater good of the school and community. There are democratic possibilities embedded in students’ efforts to “make” school spaces and places, and these possibilities illuminate a broadened conception of what constitutes the civic.

Author

• Claudia Diera, California State University - Los Angeles