"Bubble Space" in the Early Childhood Classroom: A First Grader's Articulation of Boundaries, Fortification, and Togetherness

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 76
  In Roundtable Session: Children's Agency and Story

Abstract

How does a young child interpret a school-sanctioned boundary of space? Drawing on Soja’s (1989) socio-spatial theory and using a microethnographic approach to critical discourse analysis (Bloome & Carter, 2014), this paper illuminates how one first-grader makes sense of her place (the desk) in school. In only two and a half minutes of talk, excerpted from a longer interview, a seven-year-old reveals classroom and societal discourses around territorial boundaries, personal space, and social interaction. The complexities, contradictions, and conceivable possibilities entangling “bubble space” are discussed. Centering spatiality and considering how power constructs and manages boundaries of it (from desk to classroom to community to world) holds promise for educating in ways that are public, inclusive, and just.

Author

• Meredith Devennie, Syracuse University