School Spaces, School Places: Shifting Masculinities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Friday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Transforming Social Spaces Toward Equity and Justice (Table 23)

Abstract

Traditional school spaces have been significant sites in constructing and gendering young people. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the links between schooling, social geographies, and gender in significant ways. Drawing on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with adolescent boys and their parents, this paper provides insight into adolescent masculinities pre/during/post-COVID-19 pandemic in the context of shifting educational space(s) and place(s). The findings point to the challenges and possibilities of moments of upheaval, including the transformation of masculine subjectivities. These findings provoke questions about the socialization of boys in educational spaces and how the challenges and possibilities made clear by the COVID-19 pandemic conditions might extend beyond times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Authors

• Michael D. Kehler, University of Calgary

• Gabriel Knott-Fayle, University of Calgary

• Chris Borduas, University of Calgary