Indian Girls' Accounts of Conflicts Between Black and Indian Female Students 27 Black Girls' Accounts of Conflicts Between Black Female Students Black Female. Boys' Accounts of Teachers Hitting Them 50 Black Girls' Accounts of Racist Verbal Abuse by Teachers 51.
Literature Review
I am also interested in the gendered dimensions of conflicts and how particular types of gendered power relations (between boys and girls, boys and boys and other girls and other girls) can drive the shape of conflicts. Roberts argues that it is critical to understand and acknowledge that both boys and girls can be bullies, the only difference perhaps being the tactics used by each group to achieve their goals (2006:13).
Theoretical concerns and influences
In this project I argue, drawing on ConnelPs understanding of hegemonic masculinity, that some boys and teachers who engage in abusive behavior towards other boys and girls may do so in part in response to the anxieties they experience as a result of trying (unsuccessfully) to live. to male hegemonic ideals. In my study, I want to stick to the notion that bullying takes particular forms and directions and that some people are more likely to be bullied than others, without re-fixing the perpetrators as always powerful and the victims as always weak. My concern to address the 9th graders in my study as active agents is reflected in the participatory methods I am using, in which I try to put the responsibility of setting the agenda on the young people, and in my approach to them.
The social constructionist position addresses people as active individuals who are always producing and negotiating (whether consciously or not) their identity, often in relation to people they define as others (Pattman and Chege, 2003). In my research, I am particularly interested in exploring the lives and identities of male and female Indian and Black 9th grade students in a former Indian school and how they talk about conflict and difference, and whether race and gender for them become sources of identification, difference and conflict. Do they construct their identity in relation to others defined along racial and gender lines and, if so, what evidence is there of this from what they say about themselves and their relationships with others at school, and from how they speak and relate to each other in the focus group discussions themselves.
Feminists and race theorists drawing on ideas from social constructionism have argued that such gender-polarized and racially polarized relationships are imbued with power (see, for example, Connell, 1995) and can lead to forms of conflictual violence and abuse. In my study, I want to examine in part the salience and meaning of race and gender for the diverse students of this former Indian school in relation to the ways in which they construct their identities and whether the type of identification they forge helps create specific conflicts and abuses.
Research Methodology
Rather, I asked them about conflict between students (and also between students and teachers) at school and what forms it took, and whether certain boys and girls were popular and others unpopular or less popular, and if so, what were the criteria for popularity for boys and girls and whether unpopular or less popular boys and girls were selected in certain ways and, if so, how. I have been particularly interested in looking at how the boys and girls displayed masculinities and femininities in focus group discussions, for example whether certain boys/girls tend to dominate, are loud, funny etc. and whether other boys/girls are much more quietly. Frosh et al (2002) in their study of boys and masculinities in London found that when interviewed individually some of the same boys who had previously been interviewed in groups and appeared to be with the others were much more serious and sad. and talked about being picked on by other boys.
Partly for these reasons, I conducted individual interviews with selected boys and girls, following the focus group discussions. But individual interviews also allow for the possibility of getting to know specific young people better, how they identify themselves as specific types of boys and girls, how they relate to other boys and girls, whether this involves or involves forms of conflict (and bullying) . , and what their particular views are about forms of bullying among ninth graders. I chose boys and girls for the individual interviews who were particularly loud and dominant in the focus groups as well as those who were particularly quiet and relatively marginalized.
I interviewed three Indian girls, three black girls, three Indian boys and was only able to interview one black boy due to the absence of students. I have decided to follow Frosh et al.'s position on this and make it clear in the letter I am handing to the boys and girls and their parents that if extreme forms of abuse and bullying are reported, I am obliged to to report to competent authorities.
Findings and Analysis
I will draw quite extensively on excerpts from focus group discussions with students to illustrate how particular students addressed these themes, what they said about them and their engagement when they did so, and their relationships with other students in the group. As argued in the methods section, my research aims to be learner-centred, addressing young people as 'experts' and encouraging their voices, and I try to do justice to these precisely by including significant extracts from the group discussions. In this section, I will also draw on interviews with teachers, where I present students' accounts of racist conflicts and abuse between students at school, as well as students' concerns about corporal punishment.
There were few differences between what students said about conflict and abuse in individual interviews and in single-race focus group discussions. How and what people said about conflict and abuse at school appeared to be crucially influenced by whether they were there with other students who were collectively interviewed of the same or different race or gender.
The Indian girls construct themselves in this excerpt as not only different, but also in opposition to black girls. They see the black girls as important in relation to the way they think and construct themselves. I wanted the Indian girls to elaborate on their relationships with black girls and asked if they had ever been in conflict situations with the black girls.
They think they want to run everything in school just because they are black. Again in this extract, Indian girls make a clear distinction between themselves and black girls. This may be because the Indian girls identified with me (an Indian woman) while the black girls may have been concerned about offending me. Londiwe: black guys pick black girls Q: How do girls pick you.
Unlike Pattman and Bhana (2007), who found that black girls in previous Indian schools were critical of Indian girls and not Indian boys (to marginalize them and discriminate against them), the black girls in this study were highly critical to Indian boys. Conflicts between black girls and Indian boys were confirmed as common in focus group discussions with Indian boys, where black girls were accused of perpetuating these. While the Indian girls argued that the Black girls utilized historical racial classifications (outside the school) to construct themselves (inside the school) in relation to Indians as victims, the Indian boys suggested that the Black girls invoked norms and values , who protected women to legitimize their (the black girls) aggression against them (the Indian boys).
As Indian boys talked about their conflicts with Black girls, they continued to describe the relationship between Indian girls and Black girls as particularly polarized.
Student Accounts of Abuse of Students by Teachers
Do teachers feel unsure that they can no longer legally use corporal punishment, and thus feel that the power and control they once had is now in the hands of the students, whom they clearly regard as their subordinates. Again, they indicated (without my asking) that it was mainly male teachers who spanked them, and (unlike the other groups I spoke to) made it clear that they saw forms of corporal punishment as racialized, as more likely to be targeted at Black boys than Indian boys. From the laughter and pauses, he seemed shocked that the students had raised corporal punishment as an issue.
Unlike the first teacher, this teacher is not particularly shocked to learn of the use of corporal punishment by teachers at school and, indeed, continues to try and justify its use. If the first teacher is feigning surprise because he didn't. the desire to create the impression that corporal punishment was a common school practice is unclear. I don't physically punish in this way (2), like I'll slap a kid once every two months or something.
The principal (pausing as well as the other teachers) accepts (as does the female teacher) that corporal punishment is used in school, despite recognizing its illegality. Therefore, the practice of corporal punishment by the principal himself sends a strong message to the teachers in the classroom. Corporal punishment within this school (for both boys and girls) was seen by the students as a form of bullying.
While students' accounts of corporal punishment usually implicated male teachers as perpetrators, the female teacher who was interviewed also admitted to using corporal punishment.
