The mad genie in the attic: performances of identity in Year 6 boys' creative writing

Abstract

Identity studies relating to writing in educational setting have tended to focus on the analysis of non-fiction texts. Aligning a Bakhtinian view of language with the concept of identity as participation in ‘figured worlds' [Holland et al. 1998, Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds. London: Harvard University Press], this research paper puts forward a way of thinking about Year 6 boys' creative writing as identity performance. Undertaking participant observation in a co-educational inner city primary school, the researcher writes the opening of a play script which is completed by two groups of boys. Subsequent analysis of the boys' play scripts indicates the ways in which creative writing can be used to disrupt hegemonic masculinity and potentially refigure localised worlds.