Relations of Power in Different Spaces: An Exploration of the Schooling Experiences of Children in an HIV/AIDS Context

In this article we explore how the concept of relations of power in different spaces plays out in the lives of school children living in an HIV/AIDS context, and how processes of inclusion and exclusion are associated with particular spaces. The article uses Foucault's (2000) identification of four distinct relations of power to argue that within different school spaces we find economic, political, judicial and epistemological relations of power that are embedded in the way children experience reality. The study was conducted in five primary schools, three secondary schools, one early Childhood Education (ECD) centre, a special school and their communities in the province of KwaZulu Natal. Participants were teachers, learners, out of school youth, and members of community organisations working in the district. Data collection methods included individual and focus group interviews. Within the focus group interviews various participatory research techniques were used, including ranking exercises, projective activities, transect walk, body mapping, photo voice. The findings in the study revealed three complex and contradictory schooling spaces: policy space, curriculum space, and safe spaces in which learners' schooling lives are played out. The study showed that space is fundamental in the exercise of power as revealed in the exclusionary and inclusionary ways in which children experienced their schooling lives.