This paper presents a subproject that aims to examine inclusion and democratization in Nordic basic schools by adopting a life history approach. The focus is on the students of the 70’s and their narratives about school experiences as they talk about their memories and experiences from the standpoint of the present. We ask how the basic school spaces provided opportunities for pupils to engage in social relations with peers with diverse social backgrounds, and what the perceived long-term implications are of the relations established in school.

The theoretical framework of this study is grounded on the concepts of space, place and time, seeking analytical connections between physical objects, narrated experiences, bodies and places. Informed by Doreen Massey’s (2005) notion of throwntogetherness, we aim to describe the plurality of individual trajectories that come together in the construction of the school as a social and physical space. This enables us to explore how the different social backgrounds of pupils have merged in the construction of schools as meeting places in the past and how these encounters have further influenced the lives of the previous pupils.

Methodologically, this study sets out from interviews of informants who attended the partner schools of this project in the 70’s. The interviews include elements of walk-along interviews where informants are encouraged to interact with objects and photos that can set into play storytelling that informs the analysis of social relations, interactions, and material, cultural and historical constructions in which the life story is embedded. The interviews will be conducted in and near the school buildings and in the informants’ present homes or other places of their preference. 8-12 informants will be recruited and interviewed 2-3 times each. First interviews are carried out in Sweden and Finland in the fall 2022 and the spring 2023. The interviews will be analyzed in a framework of narrative analysis with a life history approach.

The life history approach will give access to the narrated memories and experiences of the school as a meeting place, the opportunities it provided to the informants and the difficulties they encountered. It also contributes with knowledge of what these lived experiences of the social relations established in the local school as a meeting place with its specific architectural divisions and spatial arrangements have meant for the students of the 70’s across the lifespan, providing socio-historical insight into the development of the Nordic basic school as a political and a educational project.