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Title "I could go work in a factory, but this is something I want to achieve": Narratives into social action
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/10566/83
Date 2004
Author(s) McMillan, Wendy
Abstract This paper is conceptually informed by a reading of Peter McLaren's work (1993). Drawing on the relationship that he signals between identity, narrative, and social action, it sets out to examine the ways in which identity shapes narratives of academic performance and consequent action. Speci®cally, I present the narratives of academic performance of a social grouping within a cohort of preprimary teacher education students. These students are all women, historically classi®ed 'coloured' and of working class origin. Argument is presented that students interpret and reconstruct their personal histories and particular social locations through the material and discursive contexts to which they have access. The students are presented as active agentsÐ producing themselves within existing, and often potentially contradictory, material and discursive contexts. Evidence is marshalled to frame an argument that students' narratives shape their social action as agents of history, and are implicated in the distribution of privilege within society. - The substantial financial support of a SYLFF Fellowship for the research project upon which this paper is based is gratefully acknowledged. The ®nancial assistance of National Research Foundation (NRF) towards this research is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at are those of the author and are not necessarily attributed to the National Research Foundation.
Subject(s) Narratives; Social action; Teacher education; South Africa
Language en
Publisher Routledge
Type of publication Article
Source http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1361332042000234259
Rights This file may be freely used provided that the source is acknowledged. No commercial distribution of this text is permitted.
Identifier McMillan, W. (2004). "I could go work in a factory, but this is something I want to achieve": Narratives into social action. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 7(2):115 - 134
Repository Cape Town - University of Western Cape
Added to C-A: 2021-07-21;10:24:53