Geographies of Difference

The Authors: Edward Buendía, a former K-12 teacher, is Associate Professor in the Department of Education, Culture, and Society at the University of Utah. He received his Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction. He has developed a line of inquiry that includes the formation of school knowledge and practice as they pertain to diverse students and educational contexts, as well as the social production of alternative epistemological frameworks. Nancy Ares is Assistant Professor in Teaching and Curriculum at the University of Rochester’s Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development. She received her Ph.D. in educational psychology. She has established a line of inquiry that draws on sociocultural, sociohistorical, and social spatial theories to inform explorations of race, power, and cultural practices in and across varied cultural contexts, including districts, schools, and classrooms.

«This is an important book for considering the ethics, politics, and challenges of schooling in producing an equitable society. Buendía and Ares engage Foucauldian studies, Human Geography, and postmodern theories in a conversation to understand the ‘urban child’ and urban education. After reading this study, it should no longer be possible to treat urban education as a geographical term describing the site of policy implementation. ‘Urban’ is a cultural space that normalizes, differentiates, and divides the child.» (Thomas Popkewitz, Professor, University of Wisconsin, Madison)