The flâneur and education research : a metaphor for knowing, being ethical and new data production

This book creatively and critically explores the figure of the flaneur and its place within educational scholarship. The flaneur is used as a generative metaphor and a prompt for engaging the unknown through embodied engagement, the politics of space, mindful walking and ritual. The chapters in this collection explore sensorial qualities of place and place-making, urban spaces and places, walking as relational practice, walking as ritual, thinking photographically, the creative and narrative qualities of flaneurial walking, and issues of power, gender, and class in research practices. In doing so, the editors and contributors examine how flaneurial walking can be viewed as a creative, relational, place-making practice. Engaging the flaneur as an influential and recurring historical figure allows and expands upon generative ways of thinking about educational inquiry. Furthermore, attending to the flaneur provides a way of provoking researchers to recognize and consider salient political issues that impact educational access and equity.