Geographies of Globalized Education Privatization (eBook)

This book explores the complex and various forms that privatization of education takes on a global scale at different ages of schooling. Through the spread of neoliberal policies in education both in the global North and the global South, the book suggests that this process is leading to new forms of schooling and socio-spatial dynamics linked to the creation of increasingly competitive school markets. The book highlights some of the main issues that such competition generates by focusing on the acceleration of the segregative processes on one hand but also on the alternatives that are emerging regarding this global context on the other hand. It considers processes of domination, hegemony, but also exclusion and segregation, eventually exploring contradictions inherent to societies. It presents innovative empirical and conceptual research by international scholars from the fields of social geography, sociology, history and demography in the United States, Lebanon, France, Afghanistan and Chile, thereby transcending disciplinary boundaries. Developed in under or unexplored contexts, the book broadens the reflection to social representations, individual and collective strategies, adaptation, innovation and also resistances.

David Giband is Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Perpignan. He works within the field of Urban Studies, focusing his research and teaching on Urban Planning issues in underprivileged neighborhoods both in the United States and France. Most recently, he explored the role of Education in urban development and public policies, local ethnic communities in France, highlighting the issues and stakes surrounding school enrollment for poor local communities.

Kevin Mary is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Perpignan, France. His research interests include social geography, the geography of education as well as migrations studies, focusing on student migration. He is particularly interested in the meaning that education has for different social groups and how it can reflect spatial and social inequalities. Kevin Mary has used his studies of geography, French, and English to teach and carry out research in several countries such as in Mali, Senegal, Canada, The United States, Lebanon and France.

Nora Nafaa is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Geography and Associate Researcher at the University of Strasbourg, France. Her main research interests are focused on the urban geography of education, and the various dimension of neoliberalization. Her fieldworks are Atlanta and Philadelphia. She works within the scientific field of social geography, inspired by radical geography and is attached to fieldwork anchored approaches. More recently, she conducted fieldwork in France in more rural areas looking at education alternatives.