Concurrences in intimacies: Schooling, relationships and the boundaries of belonging

Abstract

Education is often seen as the means of societal reproduction, where the desired norms, values, and behaviors of core groups are instilled in future generations. Schools hence becomes central arenas for constructing, negotiating, and managing not only knowledge but also desirable intimate practices and relationships. Comprehensive sexuality education as well as value-based work as stated in the curriculum are important venues for such processes.

In the current presentation, we explore how young people with migratory experience and educational professionals talk about education, relationships, and emotional closeness.  The presentation builds on ethnographic interviews, which allows for an examination of the participants’ narratives of relationships within families and between students and teachers. By using the concept of "concurrences" (Brydon, Forsgren, and Fur 2017), the presentation argues that within the "lived forms of schooling" (Trondman, Willis, and Lund 2018), there is potential to rework the meaning of intimate practices and the boundaries of belonging.

The work builds on the presentation:

Trulsson, A, Baral, A. & High, C. (2022) Re-Imagining Families: Everyday Negotiations around Family and Schooling.  Presented at Re-Migration: New Perspectives on Movement, Research and Society, Nordic Migration Research Conference, Copenhagen University 17 – 19 August