Pablo Cortes Gonzalez1, José Ignacio Rivas Flores2, Analía Leite3 1University Of Malaga; 2University Of Malaga; 3University of Malaga Presenting Author: Cortes Gonzalez, Pablo The current situation of crisis in Spain is bringing a new model of educational system justified on competitive and economistic grounds. New regulations, such as the LOMCE (Organic Law of Education), put emphasis in the privatization of social institutions at the expense of a pedagogical and democratic perspective. Nowadays a lot of students and families are suffering those all political and economic decisions. For example, according to UNICEF new statistics in Spain have reached into 26, 7% of children poverty. However, there are many groups that are working for the construction to another reality around the Spanish territory. In this symposium I am going to present an ethnographical research that shows an experience of resistance in Malaga city. Schools, associations and other collectives are working together in order to support and generate new educational practises based on the solidarity, dignity and justice. References: Cortes-Gonzalez, P. (2013). El guiño del poder, la sonrisa del cambio. Estudio pedagógico sobre identidad resiliente en situaciones de desventaja social, cultura y jurídica. Universidad de Málaga. - See more at: http://hdl.handle.net/10630/5498#sthash.RvrkVLhq.1PkhKzJF.dpuf http://www.unicef.es/sites/www.unicef.es/files/Infancia_2012_2013_final.pdf

1. Symposium. 19 SES 03: Living & Learning On the
Edge: Constructions And Contestations Of Precarity.
Education and Social Change in
Spain: from Crisis to
Opportunity.
Pablo Cortés González pcortes@uma.es
José Ignacio Rivas Flores i_rivas@uma.es
Analía E. Leite Méndez aleite@uma.es
University of Malaga
‘ProCIE’ Research Group

2. Introduction
• Current situation in Spain
• Attacks to the very heart of our
universal rights
(it increases children poverty into
26,2% according to UNICEF)
• Full perspective of Education, as
a need of change.
• Current policies are based on a
segregation perspective.

3. Introduction II
• La Casa de la Buena Vida
- Social Movement
- Social Agents
- Based of solidarity, love and justice values.
They work, reflect and theorise on an everyday level,
moving from a logic that entails convincing people that
a problem exists and how to avoid it, to a logic in which,
from a fact that has been acknowledged and identified
as a problem by the people themselves, a joint action
can be constructed. It is a complex process that needs to
be constantly relaunched, without becoming repetitive
and always remaining valid (Cortés & Villanueva, 2009).
More info. www.aicgpp.es

4. About the ethnography
developed
• Context: Palma Palmilla District.
• Scheduling: From April 2009 to early 2013
• Methodological components:
• The researchers' story by way of an auto-ethnography.
• Story through “embodied” anecdotes.
• Micro-stories.
• Other Interviews.

5. Results of the ethnography
• Personal conflicts. The case of ‘Toñi’.
• Social relations and cultures.
• Tough but common experiences: death and prison.
What do you expect from a
woman like Toñi? I know she
does wrong, but at the same
time she is also a victim; all
her childhood has been
involved with selling drugs,
she doesn’t know how to
read or write, she only knows
how to sell, it's her only
means of survival. I don’t
justify her behaviour, but we
can’t really compare her
ways with those of other
people. For these people I
would make proper insertion
plans to help them find a
decent job in exchange for
them stopping dealing. The
truth is that everyone knows
(Chule).
The problem is the lack of
education and information. We
are stigmatised; Palma-Palmilla
is where all the immigrants and
drug dealers go, where nobody
pays their bills or anything.
That’s the mentality. If you put
Palma-Palmilla on your CV, you
won't get hired even if you're
the best person for the job. It’s
not just a problem for women
but the kids too, and the men,
the grandparents... everyone
suffers the same, that’s the
problem. I think they built it
just for the marginalised.
comments such as “my dad and two brothers are dead” (Mary), “I’ve got 5 brothers up there
above” (Carlos) or “my husband and my brother are no longer with us” (Rosi), are commonplace

6. More Elements to consider
SOCIAL EXCLUSION AND NEIGHBOURHOOD
• Spatial exclusion
• Free time
• Job insecurity

7. Discussion and last comment.
FromCrisis to Opportunity
• Structures and institutions
• Education and social change
Collective action, as
evidenced by our
research, is configured
as a major alternative
to oppose this policy
of segregation we
mentioned at the
beginning.

8. Symposium. 19 SES 03: Living & Learning On the
Edge: Constructions And Contestations Of Precarity.
Education and Social Change in
Spain: from Crisis to
Opportunity.
Pablo Cortés González pcortes@uma.es
José Ignacio Rivas Flores i_rivas@uma.es
Analía E. Leite Méndez aleite@uma.es
University of Malaga
‘ProCIE’ Research Group