Australian Journal of Teacher Education - Vol 34 - Configuring of Masculinity in an Ethnocentric Community School

Oct 15, 2026

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This paper examines how Year 8 boys in an ethnocentric community school configured and enacted their constructions of masculinity within an ethnically shaped school setting. A qualitative study using focus group discussions across a six-week period included fifteen boys who, for one group, brought a “totem” representing their masculinity. Findings show collective and individual masculinities shaped through hegemonic discourses, while also revealing boys’ agency to engage alternative ways of being. Recommendations emphasize open peer discussion of gendered identities and broader community-of-practice perspectives.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

An ethnocentric community school

Australian Journal of Teacher Education | Volume 34 | Issue 6 | Article 5 | | --- | --- | | 2009
Configuring of Masculinity in an Ethnocentric Community School
Dimitri Garas
University of Melbourne
Sally Godinho University of Melbourne | | Recommended Citation Garas, Dimitri and Godinho, Sally (2010) "Configuring of Masculinity in an Ethnocentric Community School,"Australian Journal of Teacher Education: Vol. 34: Iss. 6, Article 5. Available at: [http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol34/iss6/5](http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol34/iss6/5) This Journal Article is posted at Research Online. [http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol34/iss6/5](http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol34/iss6/5) Australian Journal of Teacher Education Configuring of Masculinity in an Ethnocentric Community School Dimitri Garas Sally Godinho University of Melbourne Abstract: This paper presents snapshots of a qualitative study that investigated how Year 8 boys in an ethnocentric community school configured their constructions of masculinity. Fifteen boys participated in focus group discussions that extended over a sixweek period. For one focus group, the boys were invited to bring a‘totem’, which was an embodiment of their masculinity. The findings from the focus groups revealed both collective and individual constructions and enactments of masculinities that were talked into existence and transmitted through hegemonic discourses. Yet the findings also revealed the boys’ individual agency to engage with other ways of doing and being a boy. Key recommendations emerging from the study include the need for boys to have opportunities to talk more openly among themselves about their gendered identities and for access to the thinking and experiences of how masculinity might be conceived within a wider community of practice. Introduction This study of boys’configurations of masculinity in an ethnocentric school was an outcome of our involvement in Stage 2 of the Commonwealth Government’s Boys Education Lighthouse Schools program (BELS) . Over time, we became increasingly mindful that although boys may share some commonalities of experience in relation to‘being a boy’ in Australian society, they are far from being a homogeneous group (Lingard, Martin, Mills & Bahr, 2002 ) . The Commonwealth Government report Boys, Literacy and Schooling (Alloway, Freebody, Gilbert & Muspratt, 2002) stressed both the importance of boys having opportunities to negotiate their construction of masculinity, and the need to address stereotyped or hyper-images of masculinity in what it means to be male. With this focus in mind, we sought to look beyond the school-based project undertaken by one ethnocentric community school in suburban Melbourne and explore how a group of Year 8 boys were ‘configuring’(Connell, 2000) their ideas about masculinity. In doing so, we considered the evolving processes informing their configurations, both from the researchers’perspectives and the perspectives ofthe boys. The questions guiding the research were: ⋅ What are the boys’perceptions of enacting their masculine identities in the context of the school setting? Vol 34, 6, December 2009 74 Australian Journal of Teacher Education ⋅ How does the boys’ethnic culture contribute to the process of configuring their masculinities? Previous studies have explored how boys’engage with their gendered identity formation in multiracial school contexts (Kalantzis, Cope, Noble & Poynting, 1990; Martino, 1999; Martino & Frank, 2006), but there is a paucity of studies that focus on the impact of ethnicity. Central to the design of this study was the importance for boys to have opportunities to negotiate their masculinities within and between themselves in ways that could provide insights into how masculinity is mediated via ethnic heritage. As Connell (2000) asserts, within the expanding literature on masculinity and youth subcultures there is a particular need to look closely at non-Anglo ethnic g

FAQs

What research question does the study focus on regarding the boys’ identities?

The study asks about the boys’ perceptions of enacting masculine identities in the school context.

How was the qualitative data collected?

Data came from focus group discussions with fifteen Year 8 boys conducted over a six-week period, including an activity where boys brought a “totem” embodiment of their masculinity.

What do the findings suggest about how masculinity is formed?

The findings indicate both collective and individual constructions and enactments of masculinities, talked into existence and transmitted through hegemonic discourses, alongside evidence of individual agency.

Oct 15, 2026

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