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Children and Youth's Mobile Journeys: Making Sense and Connections Within Global Contexts

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Movement, Mobilities, and Journeys

Part of the book series: Geographies of Children and Young People ((GCYP,volume 6))

Abstract

The movements of children and young people have shifted beyond a discourse that frames these processes in terms of adult realities. International migration and diverse “mobilities” pervade the lives of children and youth. Their experiences of spatial migrations are negotiated and reflected upon with imagination, emotional depth, and complexity. Given the influence of education in today’s world, schools are evolving as one of the principal interaction sites in which the multiple stories of students from diverse backgrounds coalesce. The research findings presented in this chapter are guided in part by the following questions: how do young people make sense of their diverse pathways at the heart of an expanding culture of movements and mobilities? What roles do schools play, as localized structures, in facilitating complex global flows of people and ideas?

Drawing from methods and findings of a multi-sited ethnography conducted in the context of three major Canadian cities, this chapter examines children and youth’s narratives of travel and day-to-day movements, virtual connections, and family migrations. It also examines how the young envision their schooling experience as an ongoing point of reference in the interplay between mobility and immobility. In doing so, this chapter seeks to describe the multiplicity of youth experiences evolving through such movements. The overall study reflects on children and young people’s narratives, generated among themselves and with adults, as constituting powerful forces for social transformation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Justice Education, OISE of the University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West, M5S 1V6, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Diane Farmer

Authors
  1. Diane Farmer
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Correspondence to Diane Farmer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Social Studies, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Caitriona Ni Laoire

  2. College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Allen White

  3. Department of Geography, National University of Singapore , Singapore, Singapore

    Tracey Skelton

Appendix: Children and Youth’s Mobile Journey

Appendix: Children and Youth’s Mobile Journey

1.1 Migration and Family (First Theme)

See Images 1, 2, and 3.

Image 1
figure 1

Jamila (Farmer and Prasad 2014a)

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Image 2
figure 2

Christopher (Farmer and Prasad 2014b)

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Image 3
figure 3

Transnational ties (Farmer and Cepin forthcoming)

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1.2 Identity and Belonging (Second Theme)

See Images 4 and 5.

Image 4
figure 4

Véronique (Farmer 2012)

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Image 5
figure 5

Glen (Farmer 2012)

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1.3 Moving Through School (Fourth Theme)

See Image 6.

Image 6
figure 6

Bahir (Farmer and Prasad 2014b)

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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore

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Farmer, D. (2017). Children and Youth's Mobile Journeys: Making Sense and Connections Within Global Contexts. In: Ni Laoire, C., White, A., Skelton, T. (eds) Movement, Mobilities, and Journeys. Geographies of Children and Young People, vol 6. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-029-2_20

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