Mapping the relational construction of people and places

ABSTRACT

A new method is proposed here aimed at eliciting the mechanisms which maintain the relational positioning of people and places within social space. This ‘mapping tool’ is inherently relational by design and involves participants creating visual representations of their geographic imaginaries, encompassing their perceptions and preferences of different localities. This is followed by an interviewing approach wherein participants ‘speak to’ their map, producing ‘thick’ narratives detailing the ties that bind people and places. The method was developed and used as part of a 3-year study into the geographic imaginaries of young people in the UK, involving the collection of 1,000 maps, together with over 200 interviews, across 20 diverse localities. We draw on empirical examples of using the method from this study, including processes of differentiation within the middle classes and the place-based identities of towns, cities and localities.

KEYWORDS:

• Relationality
• mapping
• qualitative geographic information science (GIS)
• social space

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Pseudonyms for the people, places and schools involved in the research are used throughout this paper. However, the names of the broad regions and locations is provided (e.g. Greater Manchester) in line with our research aim to examine the role of place and the subjective vantage points our participants speak from.

Additional information

Funding

This paper forms part of a programme of work addressing the spatial and social im/mobilities of UK higher education students, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (award no. ES/N002121/1).

Notes on contributors

Michael Donnelly

Michael Donnelly is an Associate Professor at the University of Bath. Within the sociology of education, he conducts research around the relationship between education and societal inequalities, especially in terms of social class, race/ethnicity, and place.

Sol Gamsu

Dr Sol Gamsu is an Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Durham University where he is part of the Higher Education and Social Inequality Research Group. Until December 2018 he was a postdoc working with Dr Mike Donnelly on the HE Im/Mobilities project at the University of Bath. His interests lie at the intersection of sociology, geography and history and the central theme running through his work is how structures and experiences of power and inequality in education are reproduced over time and through different local and regional geographies.

Sam Whewall

Sam Whewall is a PhD student in the Department of Education at the University of Bath. His research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, explores how the imagined futures of British youth are mediated by geography, mobility and social class.