Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2016, 52(1): 53-78 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2016.52.1.242

Cool Kids, Rappers and Drop-Outs: The Ethnography of Ethnicity and Ethnicisation in the Desegregated Classroom

Jana Obrovská
Fakulta sociálních studií, Masarykova univerzita, Brno

This article focuses on the dynamics of ethnicity in the desegregated classroom. The author examines the role of ethnicity in peer culture and finds that it is usually mediated and intersects with other categories (gender, age) and social identities of students (e.g. the friend identity). She also seeks to determine in what contexts and what directions these intersections occur and what kind of integrative or exclusionary effects ethnicity has in the classroom. She argues that ethnicity primarily becomes visible during ritualised symbolic performances in which the significance of different identities is accentuated. Against the backdrop of an ethnographic description of the role of ethnicity in the classroom she analyses the position in the classroom of Roma students, whose distinctiveness can serve as a source of exclusion or a means for selfassertion. At the intersection of the low status that Roma students are given in their role as students and the high status in their role as friends, ethnicity and ethnicisations in the classroom are to be contradictory in their effects.

Keywords: ethnicity, interaction rituals, ethnography, peer relations, intersections of identities, school

Published: February 1, 2016Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Obrovská, J. (2016). Cool Kids, Rappers and Drop-Outs: The Ethnography of Ethnicity and Ethnicisation in the Desegregated Classroom. Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 52(1), 53-78. doi: 10.13060/00380288.2016.52.1.242.
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Andersson, M. 2000. The Situated Politics of Recognition. Ethnic Minority, Youth and Identitiy Work. London: University of London.
    2. Barron, I. 2007. "An Exploration of Young Childrens' Ethnic Identities as Communities of Practice." British Journal of Sociology of Education 28 (6): 739-752, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425690701610001. Go to original source...
    3. Bittnerová, D., D. Doubek, M. Levínská. 2011. Funkce kulturních modelů ve vzdělávání. Praha: Fakulta humanitních studií Univerzity Karlovy.
    4. Bourdieu, P. 1998. Teorie jednání. Praha: Karolinum.
    5. Bourdieu, P., J. C. Passeron. 1990. Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. London: SAGE Publications.
    6. Brubaker, R. 2004. Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge: Harward University Press, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511489235.004. Go to original source...
    7. Brubaker, R., F. Cooper. 2000. "Beyond Identity." Theory and Society 29: 1-47, http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1007068714468. Go to original source...
    8. Brubaker, R., M. Loveman, P. Stamatov. 2004. "Ethnicity as Cognition." Theory and Society 33 (1): 31-64, http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:RYSO.0000021405.18890.63. Go to original source...
    9. Collins, R. 2004. Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/9781400851744. Go to original source...
    10. Connell, R. W. 1989. "Cool Guys, Swots and Wimps: The Interplay of Masculinity and Education." Oxford Review of Education 15 (3): 291-303, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0305498890150309. Go to original source...
    11. Connolly, P. 2002. Racism, Gender Identities and Young Children. Social Relations in Multiethnic, Inner-city Primary Classroom. London: Routledge. Go to original source...
    12. Connolly, P. 2008. "Race, Gender and Critical Reflexivity in Research with Young Children." Pp. 173-188 in P. Christensen, J. Allison (eds.). Research with Children. Perspectives and Methods. Abington: Routledge.
    13. Deegan, J. G. 1996. Children's Friendships in Culturally Diverse Classrooms. London: The Falmer Press.
    14. Delamont, S. 2014. Key Themes in the Ethnography of Education. Achievements and Agendas. London: SAGE. Go to original source...
    15. GAC. 2009. Vzdělanostní dráhy a vzdělanostní šance romských žákyň a žáků základních škol v okolí vyloučených romských lokalit. Praha: Gabal Analysis & Consulting.
    16. Gillborn, D. 2008. Racism and Education. Coincidence or Conspiracy. London: Routledge. Go to original source...
    17. Goffman, E. 1967. Interaction Rituals: Essays on Face to Face Behaviour. New York: Anchor books doubleday & company.
    18. Goffman, E. 1999. Všichni hrajeme divadlo. Sebeprezentace v každodenním životě. Praha: Nakladatelství Studia Ypsilon.
    19. Göhlich, M., M. Wagner-Willi. 2010. "Rituals in Daily School Life." Pp. 39-80 in Ch. Wulf (ed.). Ritual and Identity: the Staging and Performing Rituals in the Lives of Young People. London: Tufnell.
    20. Gordon, T., J. Holland, E. Lahelma. 2007 "Ethnographic Research in Educational Settings." Pp. 189-203 in P. Atkinson et al. Handbook of Ethnography. London: SAGE Publications.
    21. Grant, L. 1984. "Black Females 'Place' in Desegregated Classroom." Sociology of Education 57 (2): 98-111, http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2112632. Go to original source...
    22. Gregoriou, Z. 2013. "Traversing New Theoretical Frames for Intercultural Education: Gender, Intersectionality, Performativity." Intercultural Education Studies 6 (3): 179-191, http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v6n3p179. Go to original source...
    23. Grugeon, E. 1993. "Gender Implications of Children's Playground Culture." Pp. 11-33 in P. Woods, M. Hammersley (eds.). Gender and Ethnicity in Schools. Ethnographic Accounts. London: The Open University.
    24. Gunarataman, J. 2003. Researching Race and Ethnicity. Methods, Knowledge and Power. London: SAGE Publications, http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9780857024626. Go to original source...
    25. Hammersley, M., P. Woods. 1984. Life in Schools. The Sociology of Pupil Culture. Buckingham: Open University Press.
    26. Hennessy, E., C. Heary. 2005. "Exploring Children's Views through Focus Groups." Pp. 236-252 in S. Greene, D. Hogan (eds.). Researching Children's Exprerience. Approaches and Methods. London: SAGE Publications.
    27. Huff, Ch., A. Raggl. 2013. "Children's Peer Cultural Relations in Age- Mixed Classes - A Comparative Approach to Complexities, Complicity and Contradictions." Oxford Ethnography and Education Conference, Working Paper. Oxford: New College, University of Oxford.
    28. Jankú, K. S. 2014. "O leperiben. Partnerství, etnizace a orientalismus v aplikovaném výzkumu." Biograf (59): 5-32.
    29. Jarkovská, L. 2013. Gender před tabulí. Etnografický výzkum genderové reprodukce v každodennosti školní třídy. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství (SLON).
    30. Kaščák, O. 2006. Moc školy. O formatívnej sile organizácie. Trnava: Typi Universitatis Tyrnaviensis.
    31. Kaščák, O. 2010. Škola ako rituálny priestor. Trnava: VEDA.
    32. Kolářová, M. 2008. "Na křižovatkách nerovností. Gender, třída a rasa/etnicita." Gender, rovné příležitosti, výzkum 8 (2): 1-10.
    33. Koole, T. 2003. "The Interactive Construction of Heterogeneity in the Classroom." Linguistics and Education 14 (1): 3-26, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0898-5898(03)00010-X. Go to original source...
    34. Mac an Ghaill, M. 1993. "Beyond the White Norm: The Use of Qualitative Methods in the Study of Black Youths' Schooling in England." Pp. 145-165 in P. Woods, M. Hammersley (eds.). Gender and Ethnicity in Schools. Ethnographic Accounts. New York: Routledge.
    35. Mac an Ghaill, M. 1998. The Making of Men. Masculinities, Sexualities and Schooling. Buckingham: Open University Press.
    36. Marada, R., M. Nekorjak, A. Souralová, K. Vomastková. 2010. EDUMIGROM: Community Study Report: Czech Republic. Brno: Masarykova univerzita.
    37. McLaren, P. 1999. Schooling as a Ritual Performance. Toward a Political Economy of Educational Symbols and Gestures. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
    38. Nayak, A. 2006. "After Race: Ethnography, Race and Post-race Theory." Ethnic and Racial Studies 29 (3): 411-430, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870600597818. Go to original source...
    39. Noble, G. 2009. "'Countless Acts of Recognition': Young Men, Ethnicity and the Messiness of Identities in Everyday Life." Social and Cultural Geography 10 (8): 875-890, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649360903305767. Go to original source...
    40. O'Conner, C., A. Lewis, J. Mueller. 2007. "Researching 'Black' Educational Experiences and Outcomes: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations." Educational Researcher 36 (9): 541-552, http://dx.doi.org/10.3102/0013189X07312661. Go to original source...
    41. Obrovská, J. 2014. "Rituály s, těmi druhými': perspektiva interakčních rituálů ve školní etnografii etnicky různorodých třídních kolektivů." Sociální studia 11 (2): 51-74. Go to original source...
    42. Quantz, R. A., T. O'Connor, P. Magolda. 2011. Rituals and Student Identity in Education: Ritual Critique for a New Pedagogy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230117167. Go to original source...
    43. Radostný, L. 2008. "Po stopách romského hip hopu." A2 [online] 27 [cit. 15. 6. 2014]. Dostupné z: http://www.advojka.cz/archiv/2008/27/po-stopach-romskeho-hip-hopu.
    44. Russell, L. 2011. Understanding Pupil Resistance. Integrating Gender, Ethnicity and Class. An Educational Ethnography. New Cottage, Painswick: E&E Publishing.
    45. Szaló, C., E. Hamar. 2005. "Vytváření etnokulturních identit a jejich sociální inkluze." Sociální studia 1: 67-83.
    46. Taylor, Ch. 1994. Multiculturalism. Examining the Politics of Recognition. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
    47. Troyna, B., R. Hatcher. 1992. Racism in Children's Lives. A Study of Mainly-White Primary Schools. London: Routledge.
    48. Turner, J. 1991. The Structure of Sociological Theory. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
    49. Turner, V. 2004. Průběh rituálu. Brno: Computer Press.
    50. Wulf, Ch. (ed.). 2010. Ritual and Identity. The Staging and Performing Rituals in the Lives of Young People. London: Tufnell.
    51. Wright, C., D. Weeks, A. McGlaughlin, D. Webb. 1998. "Masculinised Discourses within Education and the Construction of Black Male Identities Amongst African Caribbean Youth." British Journal of Sociology of Education 19 (1): 75-87, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0142569980190105. Go to original source...
    52. Youdell, D. 2003. "Identity Traps or How Black Students Fail: The Intersections between Biohraphical, Sub-cultural, and Learner Identities." British Journal of Sociology of Education 24 (1): 3-20, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01425690301912. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content