Session Information
Contribution
Description: Drawing on a recently completed study on young people as political actors (Öhrn, 2005), this paper aims at discussing understandings of gender and ethnicity in a Swedish multiethnic urban school. Theoretical work on racialisation in contemporary Sweden suggests the norm of gender equality to be vital for the construction of Swedishness, and the presentation of 'immigrants' as unable to adapt to Nordic ideals of gender equality to recur in the rhetorics about cultural differences (Molina & de los Reyes, 2002). Within education this has been seen to show for instance in representations of ethnic minority boys as having difficulties in adjusting to the school order and posing as 'problems'. 'Immigrant' girls on the other hand are more likely to be depicted as victims of an oppressive home environment and culture (see Öhrn, 2002).
Methodology: The empirical study includes school observations, conversations and formal group interviews with 9th grade pupils (15-16 years old) from altogether seven classes in four schools. This paper provides a close analysis from one of the schools, located in a multiethnic suburb with a large representation of pupils with 'immigrant' background.
Conclusions: The fieldwork showed gender to be frequently on the agenda. In particular, girls confronted what they deemed to be sexist and depreciatory remarks from male classmates. Teachers were also seen to comment on gender during lessons and to act on what they agreed to be sexism among pupils. As compared to the other three schools taking part in the study, gender relations were often seen to be publicly discussed and problematized in this school. However, gender was largely understood as important in relation to what was thought to be cultural differences, meaning that gender issues were not seen as educational problems, but as problems related to pupils' family and ethnic background. This as well as the various and partly conflicting ideas on gender and culture expressed by different groups of 'immigrant' and 'Swedish' pupils will be explored in the paper.
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