New Spaces for Difference : Critical Studies of Learning Practices

Across twelve critical ethnographic studies in diverse communities, this book explores learning through participation in everyday life. It advances theory beyond 'situated learning' to address issues of difference, transformation, and social justice. An essential resource for scholars in education, psychology, anthropology, and urban studies.

This book brings together an international team of scholars to explore participation, change and transformative possibilities in everyday life. Drawing on critical ethnographic and participatory research from Brazil, Denmark, and Italy, it examines how people in marginalized positions – socially excluded children and young people, former gang members, rock musicians, bank employees and sex workers – engage in learning practices across diverse contexts. The chapters challenge conventional notions that oppose equality and difference, offering a critical perspective grounded in social practice theory, critical psychology, and urban anthropology. With a strong focus on co-produced knowledge and learners' perspectives, the book offers new conceptual tools for understanding learning as a dynamic, relational and political process rooted in everyday struggles. Essential reading for researchers, students, and professionals across education, anthropology, psychology, social work, pedagogy, and human geography.