Rememory, resistance and the geographical: adult and community education as spaces of possibility

Abstract

This paper attends to the educational narratives of South Asian Muslim women who grew up in an inner city area. Using walking interviews, each individual took me around the neighbourhood where they grew up, identifying places of educational encounter on the way. There was a pertinent sense of a past that was in many ways, still present. Their memories transcended a place abandoned by the state and its residents by adopting a hauntological perspective and decolonial feminist inquiry. The work of rememory illuminates narratives that uncover some unsettling truths about how the intersection of race, gender and migratory settlement have provided more than voice and agency. Despite deficit stereotyping, a notable and rooted choice prevails from participants. There is a will to remain in what is externally framed as a place of social and economic deprivation. There follows a critique of how adult and community education has anchored and provided a foundation for agency, creativity and a commitment to future forming an informed community.