Living and Learning in Abject Space: Youth, Schooling, and Rurality

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: Grounding the "Natural" Boundaries of Curriculum

Abstract

In this paper, I use the concept of “abject space” (Grinberg, 2010) to explore the ways in which rurality is understood in policy as “failed” spaces. I ask how these notion of living in and coming from such spaces shape youth identities. Using ethnographic interviews with young people, youth workers and teachers in rural Nova Scotia this paper investigates the dilemmas facing the rural young, the decision to either stay in their communities and face uncertain employment prospects or leave their communities for larger centers and better job prospects – but no guarantee of secure, well-paying jobs – and face the loss of family, friends and community supports.

Author

• Marnina Gonick, Mount Saint Vincent University