An Exploration of Liminal Pockets of Contestation and Delight in School Spaces

ABSTRACT Delivered as one of the keynote addresses at the International Standing Committee on the History of Education (ISCHE) Conference held in Porto in July 2019, this paper offers an example of a hitherto overlooked embodied space and place in the history of education. Taking the simple pocket found in children’s clothing as a significant, if hidden, site of pupil experience, the article addresses the challenge of thinking with and through the body in opening up new and risky avenues of enquiry. The article demonstrates the potential of a research framework that uses the concept of the vertical imaginary in identifying submerged landscapes of education. I experiment in addressing some of the methodological challenges of researching what we might identify as the “under-stories” in past experiences of schooling. Finally, I conclude with some reflections on the potential of this subterranean research adventure and suggest some reasons why it may be worthwhile for us to examine the potential of other “under-stories” in the history of education.