About the lecture
Young people’s social worlds are at least as important to their experience of – and engagement with – education as any formal curricular activities.
They are potentially transformational in how the identity categories which frame a host of dis/advantages and inequalities in societies are understood and performed relationally – race, ethnicity, class, gender, sex, sexuality, religion and dis/ability.
Young people’s agencies are constrained and emerge within broader socio-spatial contexts – their homes, media messages, education, curricula, available resources and so on. Yet, friendships forged across diversity can transform enduring differences, both in the moment and in ways that might endure and transform future societies.
The concept of immersive geographies explores how the spaces of schools and other places where young people come together can, over time, provide opportunities to challenge and change enduring social differences.
Drawing upon extensive qualitative research, Professor Holt’s lecture will explore how young people’s sociality transforms and challenges enduring differences tied to disability and Special Educational Needs, class and poverty, and race / ethnicity. She will also reflect on how these micro-geographies can have a resonance beyond their times and spaces to have transformative potentials.
About the lecturer
Professor Louise Holt completed her PhD at ºÚÁÏÍø in 2003 and returned as a Lecturer in 2010, having worked at the universities of Brighton and Reading.
Her research examines the connections between inclusion, equity and education with a focus on disabled children and those with learning differences or neurodiversities – or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
She is particularly interested in understanding how Special Educational Needs and Disabilities intersect with other axes of power – such as class, gender, sex, race, ethnicity and sexuality – and is committed to addressing enduring inequalities and educational disadvantage.
As Associate Dean (Education and Student Experience) for the School of Social Sciences and Humanities, she puts this commitment into practice.
To nurture early career researchers and the research infrastructure of geographies of children, youth and education, Louise established and chaired the International Conferences of Geographies of Children and Youth which have been hosted worldwide in ºÚÁÏÍø, São Paulo, Barcelona and Singapore.
For many years, Louise was Co-Editor then Editor-in-Chief of the Q1 interdisciplinary journal, Children’s Geographies.
For further information on this lecture, please contact the Events team.
