Academic conformity observed: studies in the classroom

This thesis is predominantly a study of a sample of girls from one school. The major focus is conformity and non-conformity in scholastic matters, with special emphasis on classroom behaviour. The project began with questionnaire research on the attitudes to study held by a large sample of Scottish adolescents. Acting on the conclusions of this research, the project underwent a change of primary focus. Instead of concentrating on attitudes in a large sample, the main emphasis became the actions of small numbers of pupils in the classroom - particularly their speech patterns. Two distinct methods were used to study the classroom, systematic observation with pre-deterrained schedules, and unstructured or ethnographic observation. Both types of observation were used to analyse the classroom behaviour of teachers, in addition to the conformity and non-conformity of pupil behaviour in the classroom. Teacher and pupil perspectives on academic matters are discussed, and related to the interactions which occurred in the classroom. The historical and social background of the particular school in which the intensive study took place is examined, and associated with the 'rules' of classroom discourse. The final chapter of the thesis presents a model which integrates the various themes running through the thesis, drawn from the writings of the symbolic interactionist school of social psychology

Tales of a tireur: being a savate teacher in contemporary Britain

A tireur is a male practitioner of savate, a martial art relatively unknown in the UK but popular in France, Belgium and much of central Europe. Savate, which is also known as French kickboxing or boxe française, is very much a minority sport in contemporary Britain and Northern Ireland, and its enthusiasts have received little research attention from social scientists. This article is a collaborative case study of one tireur: James Southwood. It draws on ethnographic research on the classes taught by Southwood, a British teacher who is an international medallist. The interrelationships between this teacher’s pedagogy, his enthusiasm for savate, and his biography are explored, drawing on his life history and the events in his classes. The small world of savate in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in which teachers find it hard to make a living, and the success of this teacher as an international competitor, are contrasted herein. The article also introduces Bourdieu’s concept of habitus in a way parallel to the work of Wacquant on boxing

The belts are set out: The batizado as a symbolic welcome to capoeira culture

In contemporary capoeira groups, newcomers are symbolically ‘baptised’ into the community at a public ceremony called their Batizado (literally baptism) held during a festival. Novices play a game with a guest expert, get their first belt and thereafter they are members of their teacher’s group. Drawing on a long term, two-handed ethnography of diasporic capoeira contemporanea in the UK, including observation of 53 such festivals, their ceremonial features are analysed. At all the stages of the ‘welcome’, before, during and after the batizado, the topic of gender in capoeira contemporanea is explored. In the last 40 years, women have become enthusiastic participants and are core members of the groups we have studied. The article compares the sociological (symbolic interactionist) and anthropological approaches to ceremonies and rituals such as the capoeira batizado, drawing on Glaser, Strauss and Katz compared to van Gennep, Turner and MacAloon

‘A very unstatic sport’: an ethnographic study of British Savate classes

The empirical focus of this paper is a martial art, Savate, which has received little scholarly attention from social scientists in the English-speaking world. The disciplinary framework is based on symbolic interactionist approaches to bodies, embodiment and movement. The ethnographic methods employ the research agenda of John Urry as set out in his wider call for a mobile sociology. Here Urry’s research agenda is used as a strategy: a key goal for ethnographic researchers. The utility of Urry’s sociological work on mobilities for scholarship on combat sports is exemplified. Until now that approach has not been widely used in martial arts investigations or sports studies. The data are drawn from an ethnographic study conducted dialogically by an experienced Savate teacher and a sociologist who observes him teaching. Nine ways in which the ethnographic data on Savate classes are illuminated by the mobilities paradigm are explored so that previously unconsidered aspects of this martial art are better understood and the potential of Urry’s ideas for investigating other martial arts and sports is apparen

Looking east and south: philosophical reflections on Taijiquan and Capoeira

In a precarious occupation, martial arts instructors must be inspiring and build a shared philosophy. Drawing on Taijiquan and Capoeira, which have their philosophical or epistemological roots in Asia and Africa, this article explores core concepts that feature in students’ enculturation. These concepts are grounded in epistemologies contrasting with Papineau’s work on popular and elite sport, Knowing the Score. More specifically, the philosophical approach used builds upon Papineau’s chapters on focus, cheating and racism, although these martial practices are not grounded in the Judeo-Christian Western epistemologies underlying Papineau’s thinking. Indeed, one of the attractions for Western Capoeira and Taijiquan students is precisely their “strange” or exotic philosophical concepts driving specific pedagogical practices. Ethnographic fieldwork in Britain and written and oral accounts of embodied expertise are used to explore the practical uses of these non-Western epistemologies by teachers to build shared cultures for their students. Specifically, we examine the concepts of axé (life force) and malicia (artful trickery) in Capoeira, noting its contrast to Western ideas of energy and fair play. We then examine Taijiquan and the concepts of song (鬆 or “letting go”) and ting (听 or “focused listening”), considering the movement skill of systematic relaxation and the focus on specific components of human anatomy and body technique among adults unlearning embodied tension built throughout their lives. We close with considerations for projects examining the diverse, alternative southern, non-Western, and potentially decolonial and subaltern epistemologies in such martial activities

Can the silenced speak? A dialogue for two unvoiced actors

This dialogue is a counter-narrative to Norman Denzin's one-act play Apocalypse Now. There Denzin engages with critics of postmodern qualitative inquiry, and in which Martyn Hammersley is the main target of criticism

An open exploratory spirit? Ethnography at Cardiff 1974 - 2001

The strong tradition of ethnography at Cardiff, with its distinctive blend of symbolic interactionism and structuralism, and its empirical foci on occupational socialisation, education, health and sexualities, is chronicled