Thirdspace As A Conceptual Tool In Ethnographic/Early Childhood Research

Author(s):

Suallyn Mitchelmore(presenting / submitting)Alma Fleet(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

19. Ethnography

Format:

Paper

Session Information

19 SES 06 B, Paper Session

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

15:30-17:00

Room:

B102 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Jan Gustafsson

Contribution

How can the theoretical framework of thirdspace be applied to ethnographic inquiry?
What is the value of introducing the analytical lens of thirdspace to a research design?

This paper examines the theoretical frame of thirdspace as a way to search, examine and position ethnographic research. Thirdspace is a concept that is born out of urban geography and it is a way to understand the social spatiality of our lives. The social geographer Edward Soja was the first to use the term Thirdspace to describe the constantly unfolding experience of the generative and re-generative theory of relational space, a space that is always in process (1996). The theoretical frame of thirdspace befits ethnographic research design because an understanding of thirdspace builds a richer picture of the research context by giving insight into the processes at play within human as well as non-human interactions.

Thirdspace is not simply another player in the relationship of researcher and participants; the process of ‘critical-thirding’ or ‘thirding-as-Othering’ (Soja, 1996, p.5) has the capacity to reveal the hidden dimensions within the social and relational space of data collection and data analysis. Critical-thirding creates new spaces of opportunity; it is the opportunity for the multiplicity of ways of knowing and seeing. Critical-thirding supports the recognition we are much affected as affected by, that research participants, the research context, the researcher and the data are in a constant state of becoming and are continually re-creating their predispositions in company (Bae, 2004, in Rhedding-Jones, et al., 2008).

A study that utilised the analytical frame of thirdspace as non-hierarchal viewpoint demonstrates the practical application of this construct. The rationale for this research speaks to the rights of the child in pedagogical spaces and builds on notions democratic visions for education by examining the mutuality of adult-child relationships in shaping and shifting thinking through the germinating, transformational and hydridised agency of thirdspace. The findings from this qualitative study illustrate the practical application of the construct as well as the nature of the processes of intersubjectivity, multiplicity and mutuality, qualities that are recurrent on the literature as characteristic of the processes at play within thirdspace (Bruner, 1996; Lefebvre, 1991; Massey, 2005; Soja, 1996). Critical analysis of the data from the mobile and ever-changing space of thirdspace inherently supports the recognition of the equal capacity of the participants, the researcher and the data as an activator for findings.

Method

Informing a larger PhD study, this small piece of research with young children aimed to examine the phenomena of thirdspace, specifically to identify the presence of thirdspace in the development of children’s play interactions (Mitchelmore, 2010; Mitchelmore, 2012). The qualitative inquiry took place in an Australian community based preschool. Children were aged between 3 years nine months and 5 years 3 months; a total of 28 children and 2 educators were involved in the documented play sequences. Ten days were spent at the site, with the researcher in the role of participant-observer in the preschool setting. The focus of the first five days was to build trust and rapport with the research participants - children and educators. Following the initial phase of building familiarity with my presence and comfort with my role as a documenter (writing, photographing, and discussing), the analytical phase unfolded in the second week. Over an intensive five days in the setting focusing on the inquiry into thirdspace, data was collected through multiple methods including interviews, written observations, photographs and pedagogical documentation with the aim of recognising the influence of the continuous process of shifting subjectivities produced in thirdspace. Concepts that have been articulated as characterising the qualities of thirdspace were utilised by the researcher as a frame to inform observation choices and to elucidate the nature of what is being measured, making clear connections between inductive codes, thematic analysis and the analytic frame (Johnson & Christensen, 2008). In particular, interactions were coded and segmented through a thematic analysis of the processes of intersubjectivity, multiplicity and mutuality (Bruner, 1986; Lefebvre, 1991; Massey, 2005; Soja, 1996). These concepts, recurrent in the literature, are defined as characteristic of the nature of thirdspace, a transformational interaction that is reciprocal in its capacity to at once affect and be affected by. Segments of naturally occurring play interactions were examined, in a sense pausing and projecting the process of thirdspace, through a collaborative analysis of the pedagogical documentation (recorded excerpts of conversations, exploration and interaction; samples will be provided). The purpose was to ‘capture what is constantly shifting and changing in the milieu of ideas, events, appearances and meanings’ (my italics) (Soja, 1996 p.2).

Expected Outcomes

Thirdspace is a conceptual tool that moves ethnographers to a deeper understanding of the density of the research context. The methodology of critical-thirding is underpinned by a point of view that places the researcher in a reciprocal relationship in generating understandings with the research participants and the research data. Rather than studying ‘the other’, the researcher is compelled to recognise that researchers, the researched and the research environment are ‘entangled’ (Bright, Manchester, & Allendyke, 2013; Greene, 2013) within the research context through the processes of intersubjectivity, multiplicity and mutuality within thirdspace. The theoretical frame of thirdspace does not just simply add another layer to research design, rather it acknowledges that thirdspace is another player within the context of gathering and analysing data, that it contributes to, acts upon and impacts upon data collection and data analysis. The value of critical-thirding lies in the depth of understanding that it brings to research and researching, by developing critical thinking and knowing as to how the concepts of intersubjectivity, multiplicity and mutuality have shaped and shifted the research space. Actions and reactions are no longer understood as simply consequential acts or cumulative responses; rather they are understood as born out of a generative, relational space that is an active participant within the research journey. With an example situated in Australia, this presentation contributes to the European conversation by building on a broadly based literature which is challenging researchers internationally.

References

Bright, N.G., Manchester, H., & Allendyke, S. (2013). Space, place, and social justice in education: growing a bigger entanglement: Editors' Introduction. Qualitative Inquiry, 19(10), 747-755. Bruner, J.S. (1986). Actual minds, possible worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bruner, J.S. (1996). The culture of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Greene, J.C. (2013). On rhizomes, lines of flight, mangles and other assemblages. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 26(6), 749-758. Johnson, Burke, & Christensen, Larry B. (2008). Educational research : quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Lefebvre, H. (1991). The production of space. Oxford, England Cambridge, Mass: Basil Blackwell. Massey, D. (2005). For space. London: Sage Publications. Mitchelmore, S. (2010). 'Mine, thine and ours': An exploration of thirdspace. (Unpublished Masters of Educational Leadership Early Childhood dissertation) Macquarie University, Sydney. Mitchelmore, S. (2012). 'Mine, thine and ours': exploring thirdspace through pedagogical documentation. In A.Fleet, C.Patterson, J.Robertson (Eds.) Conversations: Behind early childhood pedagogical documentation. Mt Victoria, NSW: Pademelon Press. Rhedding-Jones, J, Bae, B, & Winger, N. (2008). Young children and voice. In G. MacNaughton, P. Hughes & K. Smith (Eds.), Young children as active citizens: Principles, policies and pedagogies. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Soja, E. (1996). Thirdspace: Journey's to Los Angeles and other real-and-imagined spaces. Massachusetts: Blackwell.

Author Information

Suallyn Mitchelmore (presenting / submitting)

Macquarie University, NSW, Australia

Institute of Early Childhood

Newstead, Brisbane

Alma Fleet (presenting)

Macquarie University, NSW, Australia, Australia

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