The Epistemological Challenge of Higher Education Student Volunteering: “Reproductive” or “Deconstructive” Volunteering? Clare Holdsworth Earth Sciences and Geography, Keele University, Keele ST5 5BG, UK; c.m.holdsworth@esci.keele.ac.uk Jocey Quinn Faculty of Education, Rolle Building, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA; jocey.quinn@plymouth.ac.uk Abstract: This paper addresses student volunteering as an important socio-cultural trend which is generally taken for granted and un-interrogated. We explore tensions inherent in the practice and articulation of higher education student volunteering, via biographical narratives of contrasting student volunteers and employ Rose’s (1993, Feminism and Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge, University of Minnesota Press) theory of “paradoxical space” to unpick and understand these narratives, as this has proven a generative approach to re-conceptualising students’ engagement with universities and communities. Building on this theoretical approach, we propose a new conceptual framework to analyse students’ learning and understanding of social justice through volunteering. This framework contrasts reproductive altruism, or volunteering which reproduces social inequalities, with a deconstructive form that provides students with resources to recognise and challenge power relations and inequality in society. Keywords: student volunteering, higher education, social justice, social capital Introduction Higher education student volunteering in England has benefited from a policy push in recent years. For example from 2002 to 2006 the Higher Education Active Community Fund (HEACF) injected funding into higher education institutions to promote community engagement activities, and various proposals have considered the introduction of fee remission and/or accreditation for volunteering activities (Hall et al 2004; Holdsworth and Quinn 2010; NCCPE no date). This promotion of student volunteering in England is premised on a number of key assumptions: that students benefit from volunteering through acquiring new skills and extending their employability profile; universities gain through improved relations with local communities and organisations, and the beneficiaries of volunteering activities are able to access additional or enhanced local services and amenities. The recent expansion of volunteering services in English universities has parallels in other Antipode Vol. 44 No. 2 2012 ISSN 0066-4812, pp 386–405 doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8330.2011.00844.x C  2011 The Authors Antipode C  2011 Editorial Board of Antipode.