“I know that I could have walked away but there were people around there.” Masculinities and fights between boys at a Durban high school

abstract

This article draws upon research conducted in a co-educational secondary school. It explores violence among boys by examining the processes which lead from conflict to outright physical violence between two or more boys. The affirmation of peers is critical in maintaining one's status within the school, and this makes the presence of other boys at a site of conflict highly significant. A conflict situation generally has two phases—the first phase involving a boy provoking another and the second involving either escalation to violence or non-violent diffusion of the conflict. Constructions of masculinity are critical in determining whether a conflict turns violent or not. A provocation on its own rarely automatically leads to violence. Both the nature and reception of the provocation are important. Some provocations (for example, using swear words about a boy's mother) are more serious than others. However, some boys are able to avoid violence and in this way affirm alternative forms of masculinity.

keywords:

• masculinity
• provocation
• conflict
• violence
• South Africa