ABSTRACT
Drawing on a broader ethnographic study investigating race, masculinities and schooling in post-apartheid South Africa, in this chapter I reflect specifically on my work with young men considered as “troublesome”. Overall, this research seeks to contribute to contemporary scholarship on research methodology with young people, as well as school-based ethnographies exploring masculinities. Without pathologizing the young men I reflect on in this chapter, I am interested in uncovering the meaning they attach to the practices and behaviors teachers construct as “troublesome”. “Trouble” in this context typically refers to behavior that disregards the school’s code of conduct and meritocracy. To that end, I advance the argument that critical ethnographic methodology (Madison, 2005; Madden, 2010) is well placed to frame profeminist and transformative work with young men more generally, and particularly those constructed as “troublesome”.
