Dr Nicoli Barnes1
1University Of Tasmania, Newnham, Australia
Despite the extreme differences embedded in the physicality and cultures that arise within the idea of ‘isolation’ and education, there appears to be a range of commonalities in the ways in which people in rural and remote locations experience this spatiality. Physical distance seems to play only a minor role. The data for this discussion arises from my experiences of working in remote communities in the Northern Territory, a Fellowship spent with universities in Denpasar in Bali, working in the north of Tasmania and growing up in central NSW; coalescing in a collective biography of distinctive moments of the experience of ‘isolation’ and education. I have accessed Doreen Massey’s theoretical work on geographies of belonging and rejection and Amartya Sen’s work on ‘choice’, to argue that it is people’s perceptions, resources (both physical and temporal) and their ultimate access to ‘choice’, that heavily influence their experiences of location.
Biography:
Dr Nicoli Barnes is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Rural/Regional Education at University of Tasmania. Her research concerns the disadvantage young people experience and how this is both created and addressed through educational inclusion and exclusion. Her focus has more recently turned to exploring these understandings in rural and remote contexts.