Schooling subjectivities across the post-apartheid city

The focus of this article is on the subjectivities associated with the changing schooling landscape in the post-apartheid city. Urban practices in the city of Cape Town form the backdrop of this article. My premise is the view that what people become, their sense of self, can be understood by considering their daily interaction with the city's schools. I argue that the desire for quality schooling must be understood in the light of the lived practices that people establish across the city's geographies. Mobility is central to these practices. The article traverses a number of geographic spaces to provide a heterodox view of how schooling in the city is lived. It opens with a discussion of the interaction between "lived space" and the subjectivities people take on as they navigate the city's schools. Next, with reference to a specific geographic example, I discuss how suburban schools go about establishing their identifications in relation to the complex ways people access them from beyond the confines of their immediate neighbourhoods. I suggest that incoming students are assimilated into the hegemonic culture of these suburban schools. Third, I focus on the lived spatial dimensions of schooling and their attendant subjectivities in black townshipFootnote1 spaces. Finally, the article considers the movement across 'lines of subordination' by children who move from a black African township to schools in adjacent colouredFootnote2 areas. This form of school choice is marked by "truncated desire," based on these students' unmet expectations in the culturally alienating environment of their new schools. The article draws on my ongoing National Research Foundation (NRF) project entitled, "Educational renovation in urban spaces", based on qualitative work in a number of school sites in Cape Town. Keywords: Schooling landscapechoicegeographylived spacemotionsubjectivitypost-apartheid citydesire lines Notes 1. Township: In South Africa, a formerly racially segregated area established as a residential area for people of colour. 2. Coloured: In South Africa, a person belonging to a specific mixed-race population group, classified as "Coloured" in the apartheid era.