title: Henri Lefebvre on education: Critique and pedagogy

authors: Middleton, Sue

subjects: Henri Lefebvre

abstract: The ‘spatial turn’ in education policy studies fuelled interest in Lefebvre’s work: initially, in his work Production of Space and, more recently, Rhythmanalysis and Right to the City. Yet, although in these texts Lefebvre critiques universities and schools and introduces original pedagogical concepts, their educational strands have attracted little attention. Lefebvre’s other works available in English have been largely overlooked in education literature. As France’s first Professor of Sociology, Lefebvre was passionately engaged with education: in particular, teaching, competing for government grants and leading student activism. Critiques of education are threaded through Lefebvre’s three-volume Critique of Everyday Life, his writings on architecture and anthologies. Lefebvre’s work, The Explosion, is surprisingly neglected. A critique of French universities, it analyses student protests across Paris in 1968 – events in which Lefebvre was a leading activist. In geography and philosophy there are burgeoning secondary literatures on Lefebvre. Laying groundwork for such a literature in education, I survey Lefebvre’s references to education in all the works available in English. Arguing that Lefebvre was an educational thinker in his own right, this paper sketches a ‘roadmap’ for educational readings of Lefebvre’s prolific and largely sociological writing. This paper falls into three parts. The first uncovers core Marxist and phenomenological foundations of Lefebvre’s critiques of universities and schools. Building on these, it introduces Lefebvre’s pedagogical concepts. The second part contextualises these in relation to ‘New’ (or ‘Progressive’) education movements at ‘critical moments’ of 20th-century history. It includes a case study of one such moment – the 1968 Parisian student uprising – then outlines Lefebvre’s summation of education in the late 20th century. The third part draws together four ‘Lefebvrian’ pedagogical principles and considers their relevance today. Educational readings of Lefebvre, I suggest, can help educationists identify ‘cracks or interstices’ in ‘technocratic rationality’, suggesting strategies for resisting contemporary neo-liberal regimes.

text: Henri Lefebvre on education: Critique and pedagogy The ‘spatial turn’ in education policy studies fuelled interest in Lefebvre’s work: initially, in his work Production of Space and, more recently, Rhythmanalysis and Right to the City. Yet, although in these texts Lefebvre critiques universities and schools and introduces original pedagogical concepts, their educational strands have attracted little attention. Lefebvre’s other works available in English have been largely overlooked in education literature. As France’s first Professor of Sociology, Lefebvre was passionately engaged with education: in particular, teaching, competing for government grants and leading student activism. Critiques of education are threaded through Lefebvre’s three-volume Critique of Everyday Life, his writings on architecture and anthologies. Lefebvre’s work, The Explosion, is surprisingly neglected. A critique of French universities, it analyses student protests across Paris in 1968 – events in which Lefebvre was a leading activist. In geography and philosophy there are burgeoning secondary literatures on Lefebvre. Laying groundwork for such a literature in education, I survey Lefebvre’s references to education in all the works available in English. Arguing that Lefebvre was an educational thinker in his own right, this paper sketches a ‘roadmap’ for educational readings of Lefebvre’s prolific and largely sociological writing. This paper falls into three parts. The first uncovers core Marxist and phenomenological foundations of Lefebvre’s critiques of universities and schools. Building on these, it introduces Lefebvre’s pedagogical concepts. The second part contextualises these in relation to ‘New’ (or ‘Progressive’) education movements at ‘critical moments’ of 20th-century history. It includes a case study of one such moment – the 1968 Parisian student uprising – then outlines Lefebvre’s summation of education in the late 20th century. The third part draws together four ‘Lefebvrian’ pedagogical principles and considers their relevance today. Educational readings of Lefebvre, I suggest, can help educationists identify ‘cracks or interstices’ in ‘technocratic rationality’, suggesting strategies for resisting contemporary neo-liberal regimes.

year: 2016

title: Breasts are not just battlefields: Breast cancer and metaphors

authors: Malik, Sara

abstract: We analyse how breast cancer patients use metaphor with respect to their illness. The medical humanities (Whitehead and Woods, 2016) already has a rich tradition of coming to appreciate how cancer is discussed by clinicians, patients, survivors, and others. Our research hopes to extend this ongoing discussion by looking within and across two languages: English and Urdu. This research is part of a larger project (a PhD thesis) and in this presentation, we introduce preliminary corpus data and some initial findings from it. We take a corpus linguistics approach to examine how frequent metaphors are used, and we subject them to analysis through the lens of conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; Lakoff, 2006). Our corpus is collected from two different languages: Urdu (as spoken in Pakistan) and English (as spoken in New Zealand). It consists of social media language: four YouTube videos (two from each country), transcribed and translated (for Urdu). Our initial findings suggest that, as argued in previous research (Guité-Verret and Vachon, 2021), breast cancer is often framed with reference to war metaphors. However, we also reveal a number of previously undocumented metaphors, for example part-whole relationships, such as ‘if spread from breast then it has the whole body’, which refer to generic level metaphor-miscellaneous metaphors (GenM-MM) Lakoff (2006).

text: Breasts are not just battlefields: Breast cancer and metaphors We analyse how breast cancer patients use metaphor with respect to their illness. The medical humanities (Whitehead and Woods, 2016) already has a rich tradition of coming to appreciate how cancer is discussed by clinicians, patients, survivors, and others. Our research hopes to extend this ongoing discussion by looking within and across two languages: English and Urdu. This research is part of a larger project (a PhD thesis) and in this presentation, we introduce preliminary corpus data and some initial findings from it. We take a corpus linguistics approach to examine how frequent metaphors are used, and we subject them to analysis through the lens of conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980; Lakoff, 2006). Our corpus is collected from two different languages: Urdu (as spoken in Pakistan) and English (as spoken in New Zealand). It consists of social media language: four YouTube videos (two from each country), transcribed and translated (for Urdu). Our initial findings suggest that, as argued in previous research (Guité-Verret and Vachon, 2021), breast cancer is often framed with reference to war metaphors. However, we also reveal a number of previously undocumented metaphors, for example part-whole relationships, such as ‘if spread from breast then it has the whole body’, which refer to generic level metaphor-miscellaneous metaphors (GenM-MM) Lakoff (2006).

year: 2023-11-29

title: Weaving Mana Wahine and Masi methodology: Centring the embodied experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine in physical activity and everyday life

authors: Nemani, Mihi Joy

subjects: Aotearoa New Zealand

abstract: Young Indigenous Māori and Pasifika wāhine (women) in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter Aotearoa) have too often been framed as vulnerable, ‘at risk’ and problematic in the media, policy and research. This thesis moves beyond these deficit framings and uses an Indigenous feminist, strengths-based approach by centring the voices and lived experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine who are agentic in their everyday lives, celebrate their strong brown bodies and are physically active. 

Being an Indigenous feminist early career researcher of Māori-Samoan ancestry, I intentionally weave Mana Wahine (Māori) and Masi (Pasifika) methodologies throughout all aspects of this research. Employing wānanga (focus group discussions), individual interviews and digital methods, I gather knowledge from a total of 31 young Māori and Pasifika wāhine residing in two low socio-economic urban regions (Porirua and South Auckland) in Te Ika-a-Maui, the North Island of Aotearoa. Centring their voices and lived experiences, I examine how the young wāhine embrace and weave their intersectional identities with culture, body image and physical activity. 

This is a PhD with publication. It begins with an introductory chapter and a literature review chapter that locates the project in the context of Aotearoa and the local and international literature. In the methods chapter, which is a published article, I focus on the importance of creating culturally safe and supportive spaces for young wāhine to participate in research that feels meaningful to them. The empirical chapters are presented in three different manuscripts. Chapter Four contains a manuscript (currently under review) that focuses on the intersectional identities of the young wāhine. It is structured using three key themes, including 1) ethnic and cultural identities, 2) navigating, and 3) how they embrace cultural pride, particularly through family values, customs and responsibilities. Chapter Five is a published manuscript that explores body image through an intersectional Indigenous feminist lens. This publication examines cultural perspectives that influence their views on body image and provides insights into how the young wāhine navigate body image stereotypes. Chapter six is the final empirical manuscript (currently under review) that evaluates the motivations the young wāhine have for participation in physical activity. It examines the types of activities they enjoy and provides insights into how and why they use cultural knowledge as a motivator for participation.

This research contributes to international literature conducted with, for and by Indigenous feminist scholars on young women’s identities, body image and physical activity. It responds to the limited academic scholarship that explores the lived experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine in Aotearoa and their nuanced cultural knowledge of their bodies. In so doing, this research offers insights and new ways of understanding the complex lives of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine, and highlights the importance of intersectional approaches and localized Indigenous methods that listen to, and amplify the voices of young wāhine.

text: Weaving Mana Wahine and Masi methodology: Centring the embodied experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine in physical activity and everyday life Young Indigenous Māori and Pasifika wāhine (women) in Aotearoa New Zealand (hereafter Aotearoa) have too often been framed as vulnerable, ‘at risk’ and problematic in the media, policy and research. This thesis moves beyond these deficit framings and uses an Indigenous feminist, strengths-based approach by centring the voices and lived experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine who are agentic in their everyday lives, celebrate their strong brown bodies and are physically active. 

Being an Indigenous feminist early career researcher of Māori-Samoan ancestry, I intentionally weave Mana Wahine (Māori) and Masi (Pasifika) methodologies throughout all aspects of this research. Employing wānanga (focus group discussions), individual interviews and digital methods, I gather knowledge from a total of 31 young Māori and Pasifika wāhine residing in two low socio-economic urban regions (Porirua and South Auckland) in Te Ika-a-Maui, the North Island of Aotearoa. Centring their voices and lived experiences, I examine how the young wāhine embrace and weave their intersectional identities with culture, body image and physical activity. 

This is a PhD with publication. It begins with an introductory chapter and a literature review chapter that locates the project in the context of Aotearoa and the local and international literature. In the methods chapter, which is a published article, I focus on the importance of creating culturally safe and supportive spaces for young wāhine to participate in research that feels meaningful to them. The empirical chapters are presented in three different manuscripts. Chapter Four contains a manuscript (currently under review) that focuses on the intersectional identities of the young wāhine. It is structured using three key themes, including 1) ethnic and cultural identities, 2) navigating, and 3) how they embrace cultural pride, particularly through family values, customs and responsibilities. Chapter Five is a published manuscript that explores body image through an intersectional Indigenous feminist lens. This publication examines cultural perspectives that influence their views on body image and provides insights into how the young wāhine navigate body image stereotypes. Chapter six is the final empirical manuscript (currently under review) that evaluates the motivations the young wāhine have for participation in physical activity. It examines the types of activities they enjoy and provides insights into how and why they use cultural knowledge as a motivator for participation.

This research contributes to international literature conducted with, for and by Indigenous feminist scholars on young women’s identities, body image and physical activity. It responds to the limited academic scholarship that explores the lived experiences of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine in Aotearoa and their nuanced cultural knowledge of their bodies. In so doing, this research offers insights and new ways of understanding the complex lives of young Māori and Pasifika wāhine, and highlights the importance of intersectional approaches and localized Indigenous methods that listen to, and amplify the voices of young wāhine.

year: 2024-10-20