Contested Spaces

Abstract

Based on research carried out with over 400 children in England and Wales, this article explores the complexity of the social space of the out of school club, an increasingly important environment in the social landscape of British childhood. By exploring the ways in which children construct and contest the meanings they attach to the material and social environments they inhabit after school and during the school holidays, we aim to show how the notion of `place' is bound up with the action and behaviour of the children who inhabit these significant spaces of childhood. Moreover, by exploring out of school clubs as sites of domination and resistance, we aim to highlight some of the sociocultural struggles which are active in the constitution of the place of the club.