How might mapping and walking with places where we spend the most time make visible the historical, political, and ethical stories of a place?

Relations with Place
Written By Meagan Montpetit

Shared by LEANNE TODD and JEANNE MARIE IORIO

How might mapping and walking with places where we spend the most time make visible the historical, political, and ethical stories of a place? Recently, we walked with a group of 10- and 11-year-old children with the place where their school is located. The ritual of walking moved to finding what calls us into connection with this familiar place. These experiences provoked creating what they have come to call an “entangled” map –- a map telling their connections and making visible the Wadawurrung stories of this place. As an educator and researcher, we continue to think how understanding what it means to be entangled with the stories that are historical, ongoing and rooted within this place can inform teaching. How might mapping and walking continue to reveal the inscriptions of a place? How might teachers support children to think beyond the familiarity with a place towards ethical and political practices? 

Meagan Montpetit
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