Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Examplesofspatialmeaningemergedfromourdata.Studentsmadethereceptionist's
office at the entrance of Richmond Hall (Rockport's primary academic building) an in-
formal communal space. This area tended to become rowdy, “basically out of control”
as suggested by Paul (SR). In response, Mary (FR) reacted to the message it presented
about the school, “I think places matter, so that when it happens in the reception area
of the school I think there is some specific understanding, 'This is who we are. This is
my best foot forward.'” She linked the receptionist's office with the image the school is
selling,“Itsfunctionintheinstitution istobeawelcoming spotforvisitorsandmanyof
these visitors are prospective customers since we have a product that we sell at a very
expensive cost.”
Thesymbolicsignificanceofhowphysicalspaceisusedcancontributetoindoctrinat-
ing students into a privileged lifestyle and can provide important clues about the institu-
tion's values. Mary (FR) and other faculty researchers recognized this in Rockport's use
of the nearby country club for official venues. Mary (FR) described the country club's
relationship to exclusionary attitudes, “I've always boycotted [the country club], I just
hate it.… I think they probably have one Jewish family, one Korean family, one Black
family.”Jill(FR)argued,“It'sthosekindsofthingsinoursystem,Ithink,thatifwecon-
tinue to allow to go on, what message are we sending?” Mike (AD) illustrated a similar
point, again reflecting on Richmond Hall, “Straight in front of you are two huge rooms
dedicated to the college office. Hello, I mean, what is important to Rockport? Getting
your kid into college, … but service learning is buried in the basement.” He admitted
that these “are strong implicit messages which I think oftentimes get overlooked or just
taken for granted.” In the next section, bullying within institutional spaces will be ex-
plored in order to discuss the transference of hegemonic masculinity and privilege and
its relationships to bullying.
Bullying and Aggression in Sports Related Spaces
As part of our research, student researchers asked their peers how often and in what
contexts they experienced the broadly defined versions of bullying. From this data, they
cess we foundthat the far majority ofphysical violence, fighting, hazing, and initiations
occurredinsportsrelatedspaceslikethelocker-rooms,athleticfields,orbuses.Thestu-
dent researchers described how these athletic spaces helped to facilitate bullying.
The crew locker-room was geographically located on the river far from the school.
The room, as described by Steve (SR), was “big and it's dark, and kids are getting
changed, so you can do so much stuff, like you are so exposed.” He explained, “There
arealwayspeoplepushingeachotherandit'ssuchacompetitivesportanywaysoImean
… it's like a breeding ground.” John (SR) depicted the space as unsupervised, “There is
