Sunday, December 7, 2014

Geographies of Resistance

                It’s so hard to envision a world in which you don’t have choice but to carry out your existence in a space of exclusion. Many people groups around the world live their day to day lives living in exclusionary spaces. In Lorraine Young’s piece about street children in Uganda she explores how homeless children who attempt to exist in the public spaces of urban areas are often marginalized and dismissed in spaces that serve the “public” that they should be a part of. To resist this type pf discrimination these children are forced to live in fringe areas that most people deem dangerous. These places really aren’t fit for living but there is little choice in the matter.


                This type discrimination/resistance doesn’t only exist in destitute areas and nations. Here in the United States there are people groups who find themselves marginalized to the point where they’re excluded from public spaces. How our public space is organized is not always inclusive of everyone. Trans/gender fluid individuals often have a difficult time being comfortable being themselves in a public space. In the link below Adrian Adams explains how public space can exclude many people in the transgender community. Even small things like bathroom signs and pronoun usage can create exclusion in public space.

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