Conference article

Boys or Just Children

Åsa Ljungström
Dept of Humanities, Ethnology, Midsweden University campus Härnösand, Sweden

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Published in: Inter: A European Cultural Studies : Conference in Sweden 11-13 June 2007

Linköping Electronic Conference Proceedings 25:38, p. 361-370

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Published: 2007-11-27

ISBN:

ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)

Abstract

This contribution analyses the ethnography by trainee teachers; in the classroom. They are to observe situations that indicate the everyday conditions among children; how difference is made; or prohibited. The trainees will return with reports and narratives of certain themes; one of which is the attention given to the boys.

My purpose is to clarify how the trainee teachers recognize and interpret how hierarchy positions of gender; class; ethnicity; religion; and age meet at certain crossroads. Clashes may indicate that forces of evaluation are on the move in society.

Aspects of gender intersect in recurring themes of integration; xenophobia; any prejudice among teachers; parents; and children. Every cohort focuses one theme; in turn: the supervisor as the ideal model of a teacher; terrible parents; terrible teachers; and how roles will be assigned to children; mostly ’the naughty boy’. The ordinary children seem to be female rather than male children.

Keywords

Children; cross-pressure; cultural diversity; didactics; education; ethnicity; ethnography; ethnology; folklore studies; oral history; gender; intersectionality; narrative

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