The Social Practice of School Secretaries in Public

7/30/2019 The Social Practice of School Secretaries in Public

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The Social Practice ofSchool Secretaries in

public schools: Whatdo they do at schools?

Abdullah BayatPhD candidate


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PhD by articles

Four/five articles/chapters

Intro

1-The spatial practices of school administrative clerks:

making space for contributive justice

2-Engendering rhetorical spaces to counter epistemic

injustice: the voicing practices of school administrative

clerks

3-The counterstories of school secretaries in South

African Public schools 4-Spatial Resistance: The Counterspaces of School

Administrative Clerks


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Introduction to thesis 2

Social Practice Practice, for Bourdieu, is an effect of actions and

interactions which are shaped, simultaneously and in equalmeasure, by the habitus and capital of agents, as well as

the context and dynamism constituted by their shared

participation in a common game (Crossley, 2003: 44).

Bourdieu (1984) argued that everyday life consists of the

struggle over power and society's resources.

Dominant groups are committed to maintain their power

over these resources and distinguish themselves fromsubordinate groups that attempt to increase their capital and

opportunities.

Habitus, Fields and Capitals


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Introduction to thesis 1

Investigating Social Practice work practices of school

administrative clerks

Theoretical lens

BourdieuTheory of Practice

de Certeau- Resistance

Lefebvre- Social Space

Foucault-Power and Resistance


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Intro-habitus 2

Habitus is durable, but analysis suggests that gendered

habitus is more easily transformed, since part of

womens oppression is their need and their consequent

ability to adapt to the emotional demands of others,

given their lesser economic, social and cultural capital. Habitus is the way society becomes deposited in

persons in the form of lasting dispositions, or trained

capacities and structured propensities to think, feel and

act in determinant ways, which then guide them

From their family backgrounds and previous experiences

of the home, education and work, suitable girls bring

essential cultural, social and emotional resources to the

specific sector of the labour market they will enter.

multiple, interacting and evolvingprovides substantialsco e for individual a enc


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Habitus and space

According to Bourdieu, the habitus is the cultural, social,

and spatial environment in which an individual lives.

de Certeau acknowledges that Bourdieus conception of

habitus does demonstrate how day to day practices do

autonomously adapt themselves to social disciplineinherent within spaces, but he criticizes Bourdieus own

claim that such adaptations constitute only slightvariations from the genres of action and responseimposed by systems of power.

In one example, Bourdieu likens the habitus to a home in

which the experience of space shapes the individuals

outlook on his or her place in the world. See Pierre

Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, (1977), pp. 90

92.


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Intro-continued

Capital

Cultural capital

Cultural capital and the means by which it is created or

transferred from other forms of capital plays a central role

in societal power relations, as this provides the means for anon-economic form of domination and hierarchy, as classes

distinguish themselves through taste (Gaventa 2003: 6).


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Intro 4

Field -a given social order, a network, or a configuration,

of objective relations between positions

School

The field demands that these resources are further

worked upon and developed. But at the same time, itonly allows these resources to count as capital that is

to circulate, accumulate and be exchanged for other

forms of capital within highly restricted parameters

1 Th ti l ti f h l


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1-The spatial practices of school

administrative clerks: making

space for contributive justice Argument

Social space provides room for agency

Theoretical lens

Lefebvre production of space, de Certeaus resistance andcontributive justice

Major contribution of article

Spatial practices of admin clerks

Practices of Surrogacy Practices of Sway

Practices of Care


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2-Engendering rhetorical spaces to counter

epistemic injustice: the voicing practices of

school administrative clerks Argument Admin clerks engender rhetorical spaces through enhanced

credibility to counter epistemic injustice they encounter

Theoretical lens

Codes Rhetorical Space, Frickers Epistemic injustice


Admin clerks suffer epistemic injustice

They counter this through credibility exercises/actions to

enhance their local epistemic credibility


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3-The counterstories of school secretaries

in South African Public schools

Argument

Existing literature on school secretaries only promotes

the management perspective

Theoretical lens

Counterstorytelling ,counter narrative


The secretaries stories


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4-Spatial Resistance: The Counterspaces

of School Administrative Clerks

Argument

Resistance by admin clerks because of their

marginalised position leads them to establish

counterspaces at school

Theoretical lens

Foucault power and resistance, counterspaces


Resistance is creative

Documents

The Social Practice of School Secretaries in Public