Abstract

PEREIRA, Maria do Mar. Doing Gender in School: a performative analysis of gender negotiation among young people. Ex aequo [online]. 2009, n.20, pp.113-127. ISSN 0874-5560.

In Portugal, we have not yet seen widespread theoretical and empirical examination of gender from a performative perspective, interrogating the ways in which gendered differences, similarities and inequalities are produced and negotiated on an ongoing, daily basis in a range of contexts of interaction. With this article, I aim to contribute to the development of such research through a discussion of an ethnography carried out with young people in a school in Lisbon. Drawing on two case-studies (management of access to playground space and the role of heteronormativity and homophobia in the regulation of masculinities), I argue that a performative approach is a useful and pertinent tool for analysis of gender issues and for critical examination of the analytical models most often used to study gender in current mainstream Portuguese sociological research.

Keywords : Gender; Performativity; Youngsters; School; Etnography.

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