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Abstract
This paper considers how first‐generation immigrant children contribute to processes of capital accumulation through their negotiation and positioning in Irish schools. Drawing on the concepts of social and cultural capital, as well as inter‐generational analyses of children's role in the structuring of everyday life, the paper highlights migrant children's strategic orientation to their primary schooling, positioning themselves in order to maximise the exchange value from their education. Social class, gender and ethnic/migrant status were identified as significant to the strategies adopted, and how children coped with their positioning as ethnic ‘other’ in school.
Notes
1. There are clear parallels here with the work of Foucault (Citation1979), drawn upon in previous analyses of children's experiences of racisms and friendships in school (Devine and Kelly Citation2006; Devine, Kenny, and McNeela Citation2008).
2. Over 90% of state‐funded schools in the Republic of Ireland are Roman Catholic.
3. In both Oakleaf and Riverside, many of the children's parents worked in local hospitals.
4. However, they may have been unable to work in these fields in Ireland due to lack of recognition of qualifications and/or their ‘illegal’ status.
5. This is not to downplay the role mothers play (O'Brien Citation2005) but, arising from certain ethnic norms, mothers were often less ‘visible’ in the public space in certain instances.
6. Similar trends have been identified with the Polish community, with ‘polish’ weekend schools established in a number of large urban centres.
7. It is difficult to make generalisations across these groups. The census (2008) indicates considerable diversity among Nigerians, for example, with over one‐third unemployed while a further 25% are employed in the professional/managerial arena.
8. This has been a particularly controversial area given the denominational status of primary schools (with over 90% classified as Catholic), and the difficulties encountered by many immigrants in securing school places where they are not Catholic, or where the local school is already ‘full’.
9. For example, in the Muslim community in Oakleaf there were children whose parents worked as doctors, as well as those who were labourers; in the Nigerian community, there were doctors as well as taxi drivers.
10. This is now the term employed by schools in identifying migrant children, the changing terminology having switched from ‘non‐national’ to ‘foreign national’, to ‘international’ and ‘newcomer’ as schools attempt to be more inclusive in the discourses drawn upon.
11. Detailed socio‐metric analyses of patterns in Mr Reilly's class in Oakleaf over a two‐year period indicated an increasing number of inter‐ethnic friendships for boys as they negotiated their entry to friendship groups on the basis of academic interest/disposition and sporting prowess, while for girls there was a tendency to cluster in same‐ethnic groupings (Devine and Kelly Citation2006).
12. That Karina did not feel she needed to hide her middle‐classness may be understood in the context of the increasing overall prosperity in Oakleaf estate – a working‐class estate that was now shifting from social to private housing and relatively full employment, creating opportunities for upward mobility in a rapidly expanding economic environment. Conversely it could be expected that, with economic decline, a much more hostile attitude toward immigrant groups, and resentment toward their higher class positioning would be expected, especially in areas most likely to be hit by economic recession.
13. There is a very strong tradition within Ireland of youth participation in ‘Irish’‐based games, organised on a voluntary basis at community/parish level by the Gaelic Athletic Association.
14. Interviews with teachers indicated the tension teachers experienced between catering to the needs of ‘them’ and ‘our own’ (‘newcomer’ versus indigenous Irish children) in the allocation of classroom time (Devine Citation2005)
15. This contrasted with the views of adults (teachers and parents) who relished, for example, the intercultural day, which had become an annual event in Oakleaf and involved considerable cooperation between parents of diverse cultures in the school.
16. While beyond this paper, this relates to the different citizenship rights of children, depending on the residential/legal status of their parents, significantly altered through a referendum in 2002 that changed automatic entitlement to citizenship for those born on the island of Ireland.