ANTHROPOLOGY 101 FINAL PAPER

Part II

In this section, I will examine the cultural narratives that negatively affect

school performance among boys in Sweden. As Crapo (2013) describes it, “An

emic description or analysis—that is, an insider’s or native’s meaningful

account—may be written for outsiders but portrays a culture and its meanings as

the insider understands it” (p.27). In his article, Boys’ Anti-school culture?

Narratives and School Practices, Jonsson (2014) conducts an ethnography of two

secondary schools in Sweden to better understand boys’ attitudes toward school.

Boys are influenced by their peers, teachers, and by stereotypes about how

male/female students typically act.

There is a danger to assuming that the behavior of boys and girls can be

categorized and applied to all members of the same gender, but in terms of overall

performance in all subjects, girls out-perform boys in Sweden (Jonsson, 2014).

Similar results are seen in America, where the performance gap is most

pronounced in language courses and smallest in math courses (Voyer and Voyer,

2014). Evidence suggests that, in America, there are deeply held stereotypes

The following is an example of how to start Part II of this paper. You can use

this as a model to help you write your own paper, but you cannot use this

exact phrasing.

Begin this section with a discussion of what the term emic means and why it

is important to be able to take this perspective. Then apply an emic

perspective to the aspect of culture you have chosen to discuss.

Please note that this example is shorter than what is required for your final

paper and the margins are wider to allow for comments. Include a section heading here.

Introduce your topic

in the first sentence.

Introduce the source

you are using in this

section.

Include an in-text

citation every time

you draw upon

information that you

learned from your

source.

Remember, you do

not need to do

outside research for

this section. If you do,

make sure to use

reputable scholarly

sources.

regarding the superiority of boys in math, such that teachers, students, and parents

all believe that boys are inherently better than girls at math, even though recent

studies show that girls and boys perform similarly in math, with girls even out-

performing boys in some recent studies (Lindberg, Shibley Hyde, and Petersen,

2010; Voyer & Voyer, 2014). It is only recently that this gender-based gap in

math performance has closed, indicating that stereotypes and cultural narratives

can have a strong role in influencing school performance.

Conversely, in Sweden, Jonsson (2014) investigated the cultural narratives

and stereotypes about boys that can negatively affect their performance in school.

Jonsson argues that there is a “master narrative” that boys in Sweden draw upon

which indicates how they ought to act in order to be perceived as cool and

popular. Working hard in school and getting good grades does not fit with the

rowdy, independent, and rebellious traits that this narrative promotes. This

cultural narrative is constructed and reproduced within individual schools, and

stereotypical characters emerge, such as the “relaxed, cool, and rowdy boy” and

the “ambitious school girl” (Jonsson, 2014, p.278). These stereotypes are

reinforced and largely unchallenged, even when students do not fit into these one-

dimensional characterizations.

Good students are characterized as doormats who are quiet, well-behaved,

subservient, and more likely to be female. Some of the boys Jonsson (2014)

interviewed noted that they were not brown nosers, and so they, “are unable to

achieve higher grades [...and] there is no point in studying more than they already

do” (p.287). From their perspective, they simply do not embody the right

Examine the issue as

it is experienced by

cultural insiders.

It can be helpful to

introduce a

comparison to

American culture to

make your point, but

make sure the

majority of this

section focuses on

the culture you have

chosen to discuss.

characteristics to be good students, so there is no point in even trying. Jonsson

(2014) also tells the story of Daniel, who is seen as a rule-breaker and a poor

student. Daniel notes that he is often summoned to the principal’s office and

singled out for questioning. His classmates recognize that he is a “rowdy boy,”

but it doesn’t seem to gain him friends or popularity as the master narrative would

suggest. His classroom disruptions instead seem to give him an excuse for poor

performance in school; he just doesn’t care to conform to the rules.

Although boys and girls are not homogeneous groups, cultural stereotypes

play a role in socializing them into certain roles, normalizing certain behaviors to

the point where even teachers expect different behaviors based on the student’s

gender. Students both conform to and do not conform to this narrative, and

students’ behavior is sometimes contextualized within the expected role for the

student, as Daniel’s treatment by authority figures seems to reinforce his negative

behavior. Although many boys may fit into the stereotype of the “rowdy boy,”

from their perspectives, there are a variety of reasons to behave this way and

sometimes even conflicting desires to both do well in school and also not be seen

as a “doormat” or “brown noser” by their peers.

Remember to include a full reference entry at the end of your paper for

each source you have cited in this section.