Childhood and spatial hermeneutics in tertiary education: pathways to place-based learning

Spatial hermeneutics is a key topic in Australian literary studies. This article asserts that the same attention should be paid to space in Australian children's literature in tertiary education. Because the discursive nature of childhood and postmodern geography are challenging and highly abstract concepts for undergraduates, this article details two place-based approaches for tertiary teaching on children's literature and childhood with a particular focus on the Australian children's texts May Gibb's 1914 classic Gumnut Babies, Mem Fox's Possum Magic (1983), and the more recent Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan (2008).