This thesis is a report of a study of masculinity at Canberra
Grammar School, a corporate boys' school. The data were collected
during 1991 and 1992. The thesis questions the conventional wisdom
that a school like Canberra Grammar produces a particular
hegemonic masculinity. Indeed, it identifies the production of a
hierarchy of exalted, multiple masculinities.
There were limitations to what could be investigated in this
study, as well as to how it could be investigated. However, the ideas
and work of several people were blended in order to provide a way
into the questions of masculinity in this school. This eclectic
approach drew upon the literature of Popkewitz, Lather, and Parlett
and Hamilton, who called for narrative descriptions and
interpretation, as well as Beare, Caldwell and Millikan, whose
framework of school culture, albeit modified, provided very rich
information. This method resulted in an emphasis on what was
observed and read within the school, rather than on what might have
been heard, but, nevertheless, a great deal of relevant and useful data
were generated. The data were then interpreted with the help of
questions and insights formed by immersion in the literature on
masculinity and schools, particularly that of corporate boys' schools.
It was possible to identify multiple masculinities in the school,
and arrange them into a hierarchy based on the degree to which each
of them was exalted. These masculinities were fluid and the
hierarchy was dynamic. During the time of the study greatest
support was for "the man as scholar", "the sportsman" and "the man
as leader", three notions of masculinity traditionally associated with
these schools. There was also considerable support for the notion of
"the sensitive man", a notion that has been promoted in schools like
this for many years, but which draws upon traits and qualities less
traditionally associated with these schools. One area of fluidity was
an official move by the school's leaders towards the notion of "the
person", rather than the man. Contestation was evident as changes
occurred within this hierarchy, as well as within the notions
themselves.
These findings are significant for several reasons. Firstly,
they challenge the conventional wisdom about corporate boys'
schools. Secondly, for those working in this school and schools like
it who are searching for ways to bring about different gender and
social relations, the findings offer an encouraging, optimistic picture
of what this school is trying to do. The findings also identify those
within the school who might support or oppose counterhegemonic
practice, as well as areas of the school's culture that should be
targeted in the future. Thirdly, for those wanting to find out about
notions of maculinity in these schools, they show that the method
used here can be very productive, despite its limitations.
The first chapter of this thesis explains the reasons for this
study in more detail, and the second chapter describes and accounts
for the nature of the study. The main body of the thesis is in
Chapters Three, Four and Five, where findings about the school's
setting, curriculum and rituals are described and interpreted. The
thesis concludes with a chapter containing reflections on the reasons
for this study, as well as possible ways forward for those wishing to
investigate questions of masculinity in corporate boys' schools in the
future.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218685 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Kay, Geoffrey Ernest, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Geoffrey Ernest Kay |
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