Mobilities and the school journey: mothers, children and the negotiation of risk landscapes

1. Mobilities and the school journey: mothers, children and the negotiation of risk landscapes Lesley Murray Applied Social Science/Human Geography

2. Constructing motherhood George’s school Karen’s work Big hill George’s and Karen’s house City centre

3. Space for autonomy Jimmy: We’ve got about four ways to school: through the rec., straight down, up here left or right… This way seems to be quickest and we’ve got that secret path. Well it’s not very secret but it’s cool. Jimmy’s friend: Joe copied us. Jimmy: Yeah, their route’s exactly the same as ours now.

4. Mobility histories • Risk landscapes • Personal biographies of childhood and motherhood • Freedoms • Spatiality • Sociality and emotionality

5. Research methods • Sample – 25 children and their mothers (18) from suburban and urban areas of Brighton. Recruited through schools, university email and snowballing • Self-filmed videos of school journey followed by film-elicitation interviews with children • Indepth interviews with mothers • Observation of most journeys • Visual data –interpreted, transcribed and coded alongside interviews using NVivo. Film for dissemination.

6. Theoretical frame • Everyday risk (Douglas 1986, Tulloch and Lupton 2003) • Social studies of childhood (James et al. 1998) • Feminist approaches to motherhood (Miller 2005) • Social studies of mobility (Urry 2000)

7. Mapping risk landscapes At primary I felt a bit scared and a bit lonely, and also if I got the bus I had to walk up an alleyway to get to the school, which I wouldn’t dream of letting my kids do now. And that was sometimes a bit scary. At secondary I walked more with people but we had to walk across a golf course so when you were coming home and it was quite dark, again it could be a bit scary, which is probably why I don’t let mine walk around. (Liz, mother)

8. Shared risk experiences Somebody threatened us with a gun, a BB gun, to shoot us. We phoned the police. It was near [our friend’s] house…the police came and they were jumping fences and everything. But they never caught them but they have now and they’ve put them on a list so that if they do another thing wrong… They go to our school…When we went back to school I had pictures of it shooting ‘cause they put the gun to our head. I had a picture of the gun. We walked to school on the Monday. (Lilly, young person)

9. Personal biographies of childhood and motherhood When I was older my family life was unusual. Both my parents were alcoholics so we didn’t have consistency. One day you would be told off if you go in at 9 and the next day it wouldn’t matter of you got in at five in the morning. They were so precious when they were born…I want to encourage self esteem and encourage them and let them know they’re unique and they can do whatever they want to. They’re beautiful and clever and go for it girls…It’s because they’re so precious and I love them so much. (Liz, mother)

10. Freedoms It’s a fine balance because I’ve always been of the opinion that you have to give freedom and independence so that they can learn it at appropriate times and that sometimes you have to take that little risk. I always allowed him to play out with friends from about 6 or 7, go down to the green or on the street. He’d come back every hour or so and there were friends living in houses. (Gill, mother)

11. Spatiality It’s very peaceful. I like walking through the park better than the roads because you get to see all the…in the morning all the dew on the grass and stuff. (Molly, young person) … the close we lived in there were quite a few children of the same age, boys and girls and we tended to all stick together. We used to go out in the summer and ride our bikes, sounds idyllic really … (Linda, mother)

12. Mobile emotions I like…every time I go up it I say welcome to poo valley. If I’m sad or I’m crying I stop it and say welcome to poo valley. It makes me feel happy walking up there. I like to balance on the squares. I never do it on the way back. Sometimes I step inside the lines, not on the cracks. It’s a game where you’re not allowed on the lines. (Jake, young person)

13. ‘Playground politics’ Also the people that use that entrance are nicer. At the other entrance there tends to be little gangs, there’s a lot of gangs and I’m sure they wouldn’t have any interest in me whatsoever but they’re intimidating because people are when they’re in gangs. (Fiona, mother)

14. Mobile social space The advantages would be meeting your friends, talking, clearing your mind before school. Try and remember things to do before school. It’s a casual way to get to school if you leave on time. (Ben, young person)

15. Layering of elements • Risk landscapes, Personal biographies of childhood and motherhood, Freedoms, Spatiality and Sociality and emotionality • Others • Complex and changeable • Critical elements • Collective as well as individual (Tulloch and Lupton 2003) • Contingent on generation, gender, lifestage, class race and disability

16. Key references Backett-Milburn, K. and J. Harden. 2004. How children and their families construct and negotiate risk, safety and danger. Childhood 11 (4): 429-447. Maguire, S. and P. Shirlow. 2004. Shaping childhood risk in post-conflict rural Northern Ireland. Children's geographies 2 (1): 69-82. O'Brien, M., D. Jones, D. Sloan and M. Rustin. 2000. Children's independent spatial mobility in the urban public realm. Childhood 7 (3): 257-277. Valentine, G. 2004. Public space and the culture of childhood. Aldershot: Ashgate. Douglas, M. 1986. Risk acceptability according to the social sciences. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. James, A., C. Jenks and A. Prout. 1998. Theorizing childhood. Cambridge: Polity Press. Tulloch, J. and D. Lupton. 2003. Risk and everyday life. Urry, J. 2000. Sociology beyond societies, mobilities for the twenty-first century. London: Routledge.