How Culture Constructs Our Sense of Neighborhood: Mental Maps and Children's Perceptions of Place

Gillespie, Carol Ann

doi:10.1080/00221340903459447

Cited by 42 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…In line with previous mental mapping studies, the participants' perceptions of the borderland are connected to the social and spatial contexts in which they live (see e.g. Gould 1973;Saarinen 1973;Gould & White 1974;Gillespie 2010;Reynolds & Vinterek 2016). On the one hand, the findings suggest national socialisation (Paasi 1996) and the importance of the national framework, as the Finnish and Russian participants differed in their perceptions of the borderland and the way in which they constructed differences and similarities in it.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…background. More recent mental mapping research with children and young people has confirmed that a person's national and cultural background has a strong influence on how he or she perceives a certain place or area (Gillespie 2010;Reynolds & Vinterek 2016). Thus, rather than being reflections of the natural environment, mental maps reflect our collective identities and can therefore be analysed both as individual representations and as mirrors of collective worldviews.…”

Section: The Mental Mapping Methods In a Borderland Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We then developed a coding frame by grouping all the elements on the maps into ten thematic categories and calculating how many elements the participants placed on the Finnish and Russian sides of the border and on the borderline or its near vicinity. Because we found many similarities between the elements on the maps and earlier mental maps studies, we based the categorisation on both the elements and the grouping used in Gillespie's (2010) mental mapping study. 4 The categories were as follows: (1) Persons and people (people mentioned by name or position and other mentions of people and population), (2) Natural environment, (3) Animals, (4) Landmarks (cities, regions, buildings, monuments etc.…”

Section: The Mental Mapping Methods In a Borderland Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lakes, presidents and shopping on mental maps: children’s perceptions of the Finnish–Russian border and the borderland

Kaisto

Brednikova

2019

Fennia

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The Finnish–Russian borderland has transformed in the last three decades from two isolated national territories into a transition zone, where the ‘other’ culture and society is ever more present. This paper analyses what kinds of perceptions Finnish and Russian children have of the border and the borderland today. It also examines children’s territorial identifications in the borderland. The research is based on 263 mental maps collected from 9–15-year-old children in the cities of Lappeenranta (Finland) and Vyborg (Russia) and the village of Pervomayskoe (Russia) between 2013 and 2017. The analysis of the maps illustrates that the children participating in the study perceive the Finnish–Russian border mainly as a place for border crossings, although they continue to use the border as a tool for constructing socio-spatial distinctions. In this way, the children actively participate in processes of bordering and play an important part in the social life of the borderland. The participants’ perceptions of the borderland are connected to the national and local contexts that they live in but vary widely between individuals. The paper argues that the local border-related phenomena and children’s border-crossing experiences are increasingly relevant for their national and local identification processes. Besides providing novel information regarding Finnish and Russian children’s perceptions and identifications in the Finnish–Russian borderland, the paper adjusts the mental mapping method to a borderland context and enhances our understanding of the complexity of the bordering processes taking place in borderlands.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: The Mental Mapping Methods In a Borderland Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Mental Mapping Methods In a Borderland Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Lakes, presidents and shopping on mental maps: children’s perceptions of the Finnish–Russian border and the borderland

Kaisto

Brednikova

2019

Fennia

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“…Gillespie (2010), for example, asked Amish and non-Amish children to draw maps of their neighborhoods. Amish children focused primarily on their families' farms and excluded those of their neighbors, while non-Amish children (in the same area) tended to include neighbors, as well as a variety of local landmarks beyond their own farm.…”

Section: Drawingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elicitation Techniques: Getting People to Talk About Ideas They Don’t Usually Talk About

Barton

2015

Theory & Research in Social Education

168

126

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“…We sought to employ the students’ neighborhood awareness and urban geographies, and to draw on their own “rich sense of place” (Cole, 2009, p. 21; see also Gillespie, 2010). In working with the classroom teacher, however, we also corrected their many misconceptions of the city, and augmented their understandings through archival research and primary sources such as interviews.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Redlining to Benevolent Societies: The Emancipatory Power of Spatial Thinking

Mitchell

Elwood

2012

Theory & Research in Social Education

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This study highlights the power of place, and reconceptualizes geography education as integral to the larger project of teaching for democratic citizenship. Using an interactive web platform, the researchers asked 29 seventh grade girls to research and map significant cultural and historical places associated with an ethnic group, or women, in the city of Seattle. The students worked in teams and commented frequently on each other’s contributions. Adopting a participatory action research method, the researchers studied the multiple ways in which a greater understanding of spatial production, such as processes of exclusion and inclusion, or mapping and counter-mapping, can give students the knowledge and will to challenge prevailing norms about the “naturalness” of a segregated urban landscape, or the inequitable allocation of resources. This approach follows recent feminist, anti-racist, and internationalist articulations of citizenship education, which advocate a social justice or emancipatory component to teaching and learning.

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How Culture Constructs Our Sense of Neighborhood: Mental Maps and Children's Perceptions of Place

Cited by 42 publications

References 26 publications

Lakes, presidents and shopping on mental maps: children’s perceptions of the Finnish–Russian border and the borderland

Lakes, presidents and shopping on mental maps: children’s perceptions of the Finnish–Russian border and the borderland

Elicitation Techniques: Getting People to Talk About Ideas They Don’t Usually Talk About

From Redlining to Benevolent Societies: The Emancipatory Power of Spatial Thinking

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