Male Teacher Identity and the Performance of Bodies: New Possibilities for Educational Research

• In Event: Our Bodies, Ourselves: Queerness, Gender Identity, and Performance

Abstract

This paper is focused on specific chunks of data from three male primary school teachers in contemporary Irish schools. Specifically, it examines the linkages between male bodies, teacher identity and work. Whilst there has traditionally been a strong resistance by feminists to the question of nature, the body has once again gained attention and importance in feminist, postmodern and social theories as a place to reconsider the construction and the performance of bodies. Two key findings are discussed in relation to male teacher identity and public masculinities. First, the findings explore patterns of isolation experienced by male teachers because of their bodies. Second, the findings reveal how abstract bodies are reshaping the future of the teaching profession.

Author

• Suzanne O'Keeffe, Maynooth University