Constructing identities: the ethno‐national and nationalistic identities of white¹

1. The term ‘white’ is used here to refer to the native British youth. Turks do not occupy a clear position in the ‘white/non‐white’ divide on which current understanding of minority ethnic communities in Britain is based. In the census, they identify themselves as ‘white’ even though Turkey is largely perceived in Britain to be a non‐white country. It is, however, not the purpose of this article to engage in such a potential controversy.

and Turkish students in two English secondary schools

Abstract

This article investigates how 15‐year‐old white and Turkish students in two Inner London comprehensive schools, one in a predominantly working‐class area (Millroad School) and the other in a more middle‐class environment (Darwin School), construct their identities. Drawing on mainly qualitative data from documentary sources, focus groups and semi‐structured interviews, the work points to a range of factors affecting identity formation processes, such as macro‐political approaches and school dynamics. The research found that at Millroad School, which celebrated diversity and where students’ conflict was ethnic or racial, young people found safety in their national(istic) identities. In contrast, at Darwin School, which tried to integrate students on the basis of common British citizenship and where there was only low‐level ethnic conflict, young people developed hybrid ethno‐national identities. This article raises important questions about how to create community cohesion in conflictual environments so as to promote both diversity and solidarity.

Keywords:

• hybridity
• school dynamics
• social class
• ethnic conflict
• community cohesion

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Madeleine Arnot for the stimulating discussions and comments which helped inform this article. The author also thanks the Economic and Social Research Council, the Cambridge European Trust and Clare Hall College Cambridge for their financial contributions.

Notes

1. The term ‘white’ is used here to refer to the native British youth. Turks do not occupy a clear position in the ‘white/non‐white’ divide on which current understanding of minority ethnic communities in Britain is based. In the census, they identify themselves as ‘white’ even though Turkey is largely perceived in Britain to be a non‐white country. It is, however, not the purpose of this article to engage in such a potential controversy.

2. In each school, I distributed a questionnaire to about 100 students. Then, I conducted six focus group interviews of four to five students and, finally, I interviewed a total of 32 students (four white and four Turkish students) as well as the Head, Citizenship Education coordinator, the Head of Geography and the Head of Religious Education.

3. To gain an idea of the socio‐economic status of each of the schools and catchment areas, I looked at the percentages of students eligible for free school meals and also asked students in the survey to classify their parents’ occupations.

4. Such word plays and their different connotations were also discussed by Cohen (1988), who argued that white working‐class youth linguistically constructed black students as jungle bunnies from the 1960s onwards, linking racist myths (Blacks come from the jungle) with sexual fantasies (Blacks breed like rabbits) to reinforce a racist misrecognition (Blacks are animals).