With its original and compelling theorization of space, this volume is on the leading edge of current work in educational anthropology. Agency in Constrained Academic Contexts: Explorations of Space in Educational Anthropology shows how students, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders can draw on their own ‘spatial agency’ to develop and employ specific local tactics to overcome the constraints of educational institutions. With contributions from a stellar lineup of anthropologists of education who examine these processes in a variety of global locations, and written to appeal to a wide audience, this book shows how new theory and research from educational anthropology can point the way to more liberating and humane educational practice and policy.

Peter Demerath, University of Minnesota; former president, Council on Anthropology and Education

Agency in Constrained Academic Contexts is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the power and paradoxes inherent within all education spaces. This edited volume scrutinizes debates regarding the theorization of space, power, inequality, exclusion, and agency in relation to their sociohistorical and socio-political contexts. The contributors bring to life these debates via an anthropological spotlight on the power education has to conserve and constrain, but also, perhaps more importantly, on its ability to challenge hegemonic practices and transform the world we live in.

Lisa Russell, University of Huddersfield