'Becoming Lina': approaching the constitution of girlhood in a 'post-socialist' area through empiricist commitment

The paper addresses a gap in the literature on childhood and/in post-socialism and uses everydayness as the conceptual means that links both themes. It presents a story of Lina, a seven-year old Roma girl from a deprived urban neighbourhood in Bratislava, and maps everyday encounters, practices and recognitions that imply what matters in Lina's life. The paper stresses importance of ungrounded empirical inquiry, and through identifying complex and heterogeneous associations in Lina's life, it highlights acknowledgment of both broader social situations (such as post-socialism), but also mundane and often unremarkable moments in children's lives. The notion of post-socialism is thus situated within the 'descaled' geographies of Lina's everyday life, rather than as an imposing social condition.L'article preten omplir un buit en la literatura sobre infancia i/en el post-socialisme i utilitza la vida quotidiana com a eina conceptual que relaciona ambdos temes. Es presenta la historia de Lina, una nena gitana de set anys d'un barri pobre de Bratislava, i es registren els encontres, les practiques i els reconeixements que condicionen allo que es important a la vida de la Lina. L'article emfasitza la importancia de la recerca empirica desconnectada, i a traves de la identificacio d'associacions complexes i heterogenies a la vida de la Lina, es subratlla tant el reconeixement de situacions socials importants (post-socialiste) com tambe moments trivials i sovint irrellevants en la vida dels infants. La nocio de post-socialisme es situa dins les geografies 'aescalars' de la vida quotidiana de la Lina, mes que no pas com una condicio social imposada.El articulo pretende llenar un vacio en la literatura sobre infancia y/en el post-socialismo, y utiliza la vida cotidiana como instrumento conceptual que relaciona ambos temas. Se presenta la historia de Lina, una nina gitana de siete anos de un barrio pobre de Bratislava, y se registran los encuentros, las practicas y los reconocimientos que condicionan lo que es importante en la vida de Lina. El articulo enfatiza la importancia de la investigacion empirica desconectada, y a traves de la identificacion de asociaciones complejas y heterogeneas en la vida de Lina, se subraya tanto el reconocimiento de situaciones sociales importantes (post-socialismo) como tambien momentos triviales y a menudo irrelevantes en la vida de los ninos y ninas. La nocion de post-socialismo se situa dentro de las geografias 'aescalares' de la vida cotidiana de Lina, y no como una condicion social impuesta.L'article vise a combler une lacune dans la litterature sur l'enfance et / post-socialisme et utilise la vie quotidienne comme un outil conceptuel qui concerne les deux themes. Il presente l'histoire de Lina, une jeune gitane de sept ans d'un quartier pauvre de Bratislava, et se registren les reunions, les pratiques et les examens qui determinent ce qui est important dans la vie de Lina. L'article souligne l'importance de la surface empirique deconnecte et a travers de l'identification des associations complexes et heterogenes dans la vie de Lina, souligne a la fois la reconnaissance de l'importance des situations sociales (post-socialisme) autant de fois futiles et souvent sans pertinence dans la vie des enfants. La notion de postsocialisme est situe au sein des geographies 'aechelles' de la vie quotidienne de Lina, plutot que comme une condition sociale imposee

Labour exploitation of non-EU migrants in Slovakia: patterns, implications and structural violence

Labour exploitation of non-EU migrants in Slovakia: patterns, implications and structural violenc

Emotions as practice: Anna Freud's child psychoanalysis and thinking–doing children's emotional geographies

The paper introduces Anna Freud's early writing from the perspective of the theory and practice of children's emotional geographies. Discussing especially Freud's view on the theory of defence mechanisms and her early arguments with Melanie Klein about the nature of the child's mind, it explores how children's emotions can be approached beyond children's own representational accounts of their emotional experiences. The paper advocates an engagement with Anna Freud's work and psychoanalysis that would account for different forms of knowledge produced in the intersubjective processes of research and for the significance of the relationships with child participants

Migration, vulnerability and the complexity of violence: experiences of documented non-EU migrants in Slovakia

Migration to East and Central Europe (ECE) remains under-researched, not least because of the relatively small number of migrants in the region. Exploring experiences of documented non-EU migrants in Slovakia with various forms of violence – including violence motivated by hate and associated with work exploitation – the paper uncovers patterns of violence and vulnerability across the migrant cohort. As a broader contribution to studies of migration, the research alerts scholars to the need for a greater attention to the experiences of smaller cohorts of migrants, which often remain under the radar because of their size. The second line of the argument highlights the complexity and relations between different kinds of violence. Several risk factors are identified as contributing to the risk of migrants’ exposure to various forms of abuse at the same time, providing with implications for preventive and supportive policies and practices. The analysis particularly emphasises the importance of ties between migrant communities and formal institutions for mitigating violence

Children’s emotional geographies: politics of difference and practices of engagement

Children’s emotional geographies: politics of difference and practices of engagemen

Introduction: children’s emotions in policy and practice

Introduction: children’s emotions in policy and practic

Feeling our way: academia, emotions and a politics of care

This paper aims to better understand the role of emotions in academia, and their part in producing, and challenging, an increasingly normalized neoliberal academy. It unfolds from two narratives that foreground emotions in and across academic spaces and practices, to critically explore how knowledges and positions are constructed and circulated. It then moves to consider these issues through the lens of care as a political stance towards being and becoming academics in neoliberal times. Our aim is to contribute to the burgeoning literature on emotional geographies, explicitly bringing this work into conversation with resurgent debates surrounding an ethic of care, as part of a politic of critiquing individualism and managerialism in (and beyond) the academy. We consider the ways in which neoliberal university structures circulate particular affects, prompting emotions such as desire and anxiety, and the internalisation of competition and audit as embodied scholars. Our narratives exemplify how attendant emotions and affect can reverberate and be further reproduced through university cultures, and diffuse across personal and professional lives. We argue that emotions in academia matter, mutually co-producing everyday social relations and practices at and across all levels. We are interested in their political implications, and how neoliberal norms can be shifted through practices of caring-with

Editorial: thinking and doing children's emotional geographies

Editorial: thinking and doing children's emotional geographie

The relational spaces of mentoring with young people 'at risk'

What is the political allure, value and currency of emotions within contemporary cultures of governance? What does it mean to govern more humanely? Since the emergence of an emotional turn in human geography over the last decade, the notion that our emotions matter in understanding an array of social practices, spatial formations and aspects of everyday life is no longer seen as controversial. This book brings recent developments in emotional geography into dialogue with social policy concerns and contemporary issues of governance. It sets the intellectual scene for research into the geographical dimensions of the emotionalized states of the citizen, policy maker and public service worker, and highlights new research on the emotional forms of governance which now characterise public life

‘It’s good but it’s not enough”: the relational geographies of social policy and youth mentoring interventions

Developing a critical analysis of the relational and situated practices of social policy, this paper draws on an evaluation of an early intervention project in Scotland (UK) where volunteer adult mentors supported young people ‘at risk’ of offending or anti-social behaviour. Contributing to ‘enlivened’ accounts of social practice, we explore how practices of mentoring developed through the co-presence of mentor and young person in the often transitory spaces of care which characterised the ‘diversionary activities’ approach in the project. We expand the notion of the relational in social practice beyond the care-recipient dyad to include wider networks of care (families, programme workers, social institutions). The paper explores how such social interventions might both be ‘good’ for the young people involved, and yet recognise critiques that more individualised models of intervention inevitably have limitations which make them ‘not enough’ to deal with structural inequalities and disadvantages. Acknowledging the impacts of neoliberalism, we argue critical attention to diverse situated relational practices points to the excessive nature of engagement in social policy and provides scope for transformative practice where young people’s geographies can be ‘upscaled’ to connect to the realms of social policy and practice