Browsing by Author "Hirvaskero, Milka"

The research analyses how the impression of gender is corporally produced in the everyday life of a primary school sixth grade class. The work is based on Judith Butler’s notion of gender as a construct that is produced and reproduced through a work of constant repetition. The research investigates the gestures, styles, and bodily signifiers that produce an impression of gender, and especially that of girlhood, in the everyday orders of school. An additional focus is on the touching that takes place between students during school day and how touch becomes gendered in school. Methodologically, the study is framed on feminist ethnography. Feminist research is critical research in which the central importance is on a critical analysis of power relations, a strong ethical commitment, a political and emancipatory knowledge interest, and an understanding of knowledge as situated. The research data was produced through ethnographic observation while participating in the everyday life of a primary school sixth grade class in Helsinki, Finland. The observation took place during 10 school days in May 2018. The data consists of approximately 100 pages of field notes written at the time. The research observes the school days of students, including lessons, recesses, lunch breaks, swimming lessons, and movements between these. Observational data is enhanced by seven student pair or group interviews in which 15 sixth graders took part, and an interview of the class teacher. The research concludes that the impression of girlhood is produced through corporal stances such as hip curvature or outstretched ankles. Material objects, such as cosmetics or jewellery, and clothes that leave girls’ bodies more visible than boys’ bodies, are also associated with girl corporality. Girls also took advantage of a specific strategy for claiming space, in which (some of) the girls used their physically skilful bodies to claim space through dashing postures and movements such as stretching or cartwheels. There was a line between the genders in the class and the impression of gender was produced through touching, among other things: friends of the same gender were most in contact with each other. The girls more commonly used gentle and caring touching, the boys more raucous touching and play fighting. However, the gender line was habitually transgressed in many ways and also all the different ways of touching were used by students of different genders. The research found that gender categories are not consistent and the ways of corporally producing gender is influenced by several overlapping factors which the research analyses through the concept of corporal style.