The Peer Group's Agency in a Brazilian School

in Boyhood Studies
Author:
Cinthia Torres Toledo University of Sao Paulo, Brazil cinthiatt@gmail.com

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0238-7937
and
Marília Pinto de Carvalho University of São Paulo, Brazil mariliac@usp.br

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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1029-4084
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/bhs.2020.130206
Keywords:
gender school regimes; masculinities; peer groups; periphery; power relations
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Abstract

Black working-class boys are the group with the most significant difficulties in their schooling process. In dialogue with Raewyn Connell, we seek to analyze how the collective conceptions of peer groups have influenced the school engagement of Brazilian boys. We conducted an ethnographic research with students around the age of 14 at an urban state school in the periphery of the city of São Paulo. We analyzed the hierarchization process between two groups of boys, demonstrating the existence of a collective notion of masculinity that works against engagement with the school. Well-known to the Anglophone academic literature, this association is rather uncommon in the Brazilian literature. We have therefore attempted to describe and analyze here the challenges faced by Black working-class Brazilian boys to establish more positive educational trajectories.

Contributor Notes

Cinthia Torres Toledo is a Ph.D. candidate in Education at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil). She was a visiting scholar at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (Canada). Supported by São Paulo Research Foundation. Member of EdGES (Study Group on Gender, Education, and Sexual Culture) since 2013. She has published “Masculinities and School Performance: The Construction of Hierarchies among Peers,” Cadernos de Pesquisa [online], 2018; “Care and New Managerialism: Where Does the Female Teacher's Work Go?” Educação em Revista [online], 2018. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0238-7937. Email: cinthiatt@gmail.com

Marília Pinto de Carvalho is Full Professor at the Faculdade de Educação of the Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil), researcher level 1 of Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). Co-leader of EdGES (Study Group on Gender, Education, and Sexual Culture). She has published, among other things, “The Influence of Family Socialization on the Success of Girls from Poor Urban Communities in Brazil at School,” Gender and Education, 2015; “Care and New Managerialism: Where Does the Female Teacher's Work Go?” Educação em Revista [online], 2018. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1029-4084. Email: mariliac@usp.br

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Boyhood Studies

An Interdisciplinary Journal

Cover Boyhood Studies
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
16
Keywords:
gender school regimes; masculinities; peer groups; periphery; power relations
Print Publication Date:
01 Dec 2020
Online Publication Date:
01 Dec 2020
Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020

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