While many of the adolescents had experienced some form of bullying at school, they were often hesitant to describe such experiences, as the literature suggests (Reynolds 2008). The stories told by thirteen-year-old Filip, and Sylwia, aged eleven, are
constructed in a disjointed fashion, and across different sessions. Below is an extract from their joint interview, followed by excerpts from the individual interviews I held with each of them later.
Extract 6.11 (S4: interview with Filip & Sylwia – Sara (SY); Filip (F); Sylwia (S))
219 SY: […] do you – have you had any experiences of people like. people from 220 here. saying things about Polish people?
221 F: not really. um. = no 222 S: = no
223 SY: nothing. have you heard anything?
224 F: no 225 S: no
226 SY: nothing. ok. what were people like at school? did they help. or –?
227 F: um. before I went to this school. I was in a different school 228 SY: ok
229 F: and people there were just terrible/ I was getting bullied and – […]
232 SY: ok. ok. and what did the teachers do about it?
233 F: er. they told them to stop. and they did. for few months. and then they 234 repeated it
235 SY: ok. what sort of things were they saying? can you tell me?
236 F: um. they were telling me to go back to Poland/ like. they don’t want me here
237 SY: um-hm
238 F: and um. yeah they just bullied me physically 239 SY: ok. ok. and here. was it ok?
240 F: here is. everything here is ok […]
248 SY: […] have you had anything like that. Sylwia?
249 S: no
250 SY: ok. cos you were much younger when you came I guess?
251 S: yeah 252 SY: yeah –
253 S: everything was ok/ but I also had an old school before my – I had two primary 254 schools/ because the first one I didn’t like. I don’t know why. I don’t
255 remember now. but – I just didn’t like the people there. I don’t know what for 256 and then. then I moved to Treetam Primary School
257 SY: ok
258 S: then. um. I’m up here now/ I liked Treetam. it was a really good school 259 and I really like Grovesham now. it’s – I have new friends. everything
Extract 6.12 (S6: individual interview with Filip – Sara (SY); Filip (F))
371 F: the school was horrible 372 SY: why?
373 F: er. people were bullying me. cos couldn’t really speak English back then 374 SY: um-hm.
375 F: um. yeah. that’s why
376 SY: ok. so why did your parents move to Fieldstone?
377 F: er – there are a few reasons/ the first one is because we couldn’t find a house 378 that is in Miltville. or in Hometon
379 SY: um-hm
380 F: and. er. the second one is because I was getting bullied a lot
Extract 6.13 (S6: individual interview with Sylwia – Sara (SY); Sylwia (S))
216 SY: you went to two different primary schools. is that right. or just one?
217 S: erm. in England?
218 SY: yeah 219 S: yes […]
228 SY: oh. ok. was it [the first school] good. or –
229 S: <speaking more quietly> no. cos um. I don’t know exactly. but the people 230 there weren’t so nice and they were annoying me
231 SY: um-hm
232 S: <still quietly> and they. they just weren’t nice to me/ and then I asked Mum to 233 move school/ and then we found another school. Treetam
At first, both Filip and Sylwia deny any problems (Extract 6.11, lines 221-225); when I ask about school, Filip opens up a little. Nonetheless, Filip needs prompting at each turn, and his story remains sparse on detail: he gives an example of things that were said (line 236), and also mentions being bullied ‘physically’ (line 238). Taking his hesitancy to indicate that this is a delicate topic, and not wanting to cause further discomfort, I choose not to ask Filip to elaborate, but instead refer to his time at Grovesham: ‘and here. was it ok?’ (line 239).
Sylwia then denies having experienced anything similar (Extract 6.11, lines 248-249). I suggest that might have been because she had been ‘much younger’ than Filip when she came to England (line 250); something about the hesitancy in her ‘yeah’ (line 251) makes me repeat the word almost as a question. Sylwia then mentions her first school in Fieldstone, and how she moved to another school because she ‘didn’t like the people’ (line 255). In the individual interview (Extract 6.13), Sylwia remains hesitant;
after some encouragement, she explains that ‘the people there [at her first primary school] weren’t so nice’ (line 230). She then makes the link between the bullying and moving school more explicit (lines 232-233). Like Filip, however, Sylwia does not go into further detail; again, I decide not to press further. In the pair interview (Extract 6.11), Sylwia indicates that she prefers to focus on her second primary school, Treetam, and her positive experiences there and at Grovesham (lines 258-259).
The reluctance to talk about incidents of bullying may be understood in several ways. It must firstly be noted that Filip’s hesitation could be explained by other factors. Filip is slightly uncertain of his spoken English (see Chapter 7, Extract 7.9); he also has a strong dislike of being recorded, which he does not divulge until the final session (Appendix 5, Extract A.2). However, Sylwia, who elsewhere is a chatty and vivacious participant, also evinces a reluctance to expound on the subject of bullying. Instead, she re-positions herself as a contented student by describing the schools where she felt happier, including Grovesham, which she ‘really like[s]’ (Extract 11, line 259).
It may be that Filip and Sylwia were embarrassed to talk about their experiences in front of each other, yet their hesitation continued into the individual interview. Although Filip volunteers the information that his school was ‘horrible’ (Extract 6.12, line 371), he does not elaborate on his experience of being bullied. Sylwia also appears reluctant to give details: she reports that the people ‘just weren’t nice to me’ (Extract 6.13, line 232), speaking unusually quietly as she recounts her experiences (Extract 6.13).
Another possible reason for the adolescents’ reticence is that they do not want to present themselves as victims of racially motivated abuse, for to do so would
undermine their positions as citizens with a right to be in the country. This interpretation would seem to chime with Fox, Moroşanu and Szilassy (2015), and their exploration into reasons why Eastern Europeans may deny their experiences of racial
discrimination in the UK.
Despite his painful experiences, Filip nonetheless has the intention of remaining in the UK. In the following extract, he explains his future plans.
Extract 6.14 (S6: individual interview with Filip – Sara (SY); Filip (F))
486 SY: […] so what about after school. have you got – I know it’s early yet.
487 but do you have any thoughts about afterwards?
[…]
492 F: ah. um – I’m planning on following my sister. my sister Agnieszka’s footsteps 493 and I’m going to be a vet
While Filip presents himself as ‘following’ in his older sister’s ‘footsteps’ (line 492) in his ambition to become a vet (see section 9.3.1 for a discussion of the language Filip uses here), he is in fact intending to realise the dream his sister Agnieszka was unable to accomplish, due to family commitments. Filip explains this in an earlier interview:
Extract 6.15 (S4: interview with Filip & Sylwia – Sara (SY); Filip (F))
184 F: my. my sister. um. wanted to be a vet. but she’s got a family. so she = can’t 185 SY: = ok
186 F: and she works at Tesco
Filip does not elaborate on the situation, yet even though Agnieszka is currently working in a Tesco’s supermarket (line 186), Filip is nonetheless anxious to position her in terms of potentially being a vet, a higher status job. That Filip does this may indicate how he is conscious of the discourse whereby Polish migrants are positioned as low-skilled workers. While there is indeed an increasing number of Polish manual workers in Britain, such as on London’s construction sites (Datta & Brickell 2009), this has also become a stereotypical image, something implied by McDowell’s (2009) allusion to ‘the mythical figure of the Polish plumber’ (p.20).
This clichéd imagery appears as an element of a story told by Krystyna in relation to the anti-Polish sentiment she has faced. Krystyna’s account is given below:
Extract 6.16 (S#1: interview at St. Ferdinand’s – Sara (SY); Krystyna (K))
340 K: […] sometimes I guess when I’m at school people
341 are a bit insulting when they talk about how Polish people are builders and 342 stuff. and just – I think sometimes people are sometimes a bit unfair towards 343 where you come from
344 SY: um-hm. can you give me an example?
345 K: well because now my Dad’s changed jobs and he’s kind of a builder recently I 346 was in my class and the teacher asked so are any of your parents builders?
347 because I do GCSE PE and it was a part of our. what we were doing. and I 348 said yeah my Dad kind of is and I could just hear them giggling in the 349 background. so yeah
Here, Krystyna resents the way in which her father is reduced to a risible stereotype through his job, and that an individual is judged by his country of origin (lines 341-343).
Not wanting to see him in this way, she describes her father as ‘kind of a builder’ (line 345). Earlier in the interview, Krystyna attempts to reposition both her parents in a way that does not correspond to the ‘insulting’ (line 341) and stereotypical image with which she is confronted.
Extract 6.17 (S#1: interview at St. Ferdinand’s – Sara (SY); Krystyna (K))
59 SY: ok. what does he [your Dad] do?
60 K: well. now he’s switched and right now he’s kind of working as an electrician 61 and – but then he kind of helps to like do stuff around like – when you like 62 make houses or like do stuff around
[…]
67 SY: ok. and what about your Mum. does she work?
68 K: well, she’s a beautician but. erm. right now she kind of just works at some 69 kind of like small factory. but sometimes she does do like nails privately
In her description of her father, Krystyna is keen to stress that he is an electrician, not a builder, thus a skilled rather than manual worker; she eschews the word ‘builder’ to describe the work he does (lines 61-62). In their study on Polish builders in London, Datta and Brickell (2009) note the ‘skills hierarchy’ which positions jobs such as ‘fitting, carpentry, tiling, flooring, and general redecoration’ as higher than manual building work (p.446). From the way she speaks of her parents, it seems that Krystyna is aware of such positioning; she also depicts her mother as a beautician rather than a factory employee (lines 68-69). Like Filip’s positioning of his sister (Extract 6.14), Krystyna
appears to want to suggest that her parents cannot be defined simply by the work they are currently doing. A further example of this from Beata, who emphasises that
although her father works as a builder, he is constantly achieving promotion, can be found in Appendix 5, Extract A.3.
Sixteen-year-old Greg also recounts an incident from school. In an interview with Greg, Beata and Janusz, I show them a newspaper article highlighting racist attitudes of schoolchildren (Appendix 2). This prompts Greg to recall an incident from his geography class.
Extract 6.18 (S3: interview with Greg, Beata & Janusz – Sara (SY); Greg (G))
195 G: well. the last one’s kind of like what I said/ things about. erm. stealing jobs.
196 I’ve had that personally. from my Dad. I’ve heard that from him. had that said 197 to him. that kind of thing. erm. in my geography. we study Polish immigrants 198 so – like. er. that’s it – (… repetition he’d heard that from his Dad) <speaking 199 quickly and increasingly quietly, tailing off; audio unclear>
200 SY: yeah? what’s that like?
201 G: it was like. last week we had it and it’s. erm. there was like loads of like we 202 got turned against basically the whole class were against us. like it was so 203 bad/ there’s like two of us in the Polish class and er. we just got. er <laughs 204 slightly> bombed. basically. there were like jokes and references. don’t steal 205 my jobs. and all those things/ and my friend couldn’t hold it in. I mean. he 206 like. just gave them all the facts that it’s not really true exactly. so
Even though he has volunteered the story, Greg’s description of the incident is punctuated with hesitations and nervous laughter. At one point, he speaks so quickly
and quietly that it is difficult to make out his words on the recording (line 198-199). This can be interpreted as Greg’s apprehension in re-telling the story and possibly as an attempt to dispel the tension that either he felt at the time or feels when recounting the event.
What is also noticeable, is the way that Greg abruptly shifts his own position within the story. When he first talks about the geography class – ‘last week we had it’ (line 201) – Greg is part of the collective ‘we’, a member of the class. However, within the disjointed explanation, ‘there was like loads of like we got turned against’ (lines 201-202), Greg suddenly becomes part of a different group: he has repositioned himself from being a class member to part of the ‘we’ being attacked. Greg then reaffirms this shift in position: ‘the whole class were against us’ (line 202).
At this point, it remains unclear who the attacked ‘we’ or ‘us’ refers to. It is only after reiterating the nature of the verbal attack – ‘it was so bad’ (line 202) – that Greg starts to reveal something about the other person implicated in the ‘we’. The boy whom Greg knows from Polish class is not given by name, yet Greg describes him as ‘my friend’
(line 205). He thus positions the boy as an ally, and also as the one who resists the attack through verbal retaliation: ‘my friend couldn’t hold it in’, his classmate ‘just gave them all the facts’ (line 206).
The shift in positioning is indicated by Greg’s use of ‘us’ and ‘them’. In his discussion on the way racism is implied through discourse, van Dijk (2000) highlights the use of
‘our’ as ‘an ingroup designator’, which serves to underpin the demarcation between the categories ‘us’ and ‘them’ (p.44). Where in van Dijk, ‘us’ refers to the dominant majority against the immigrant ‘them’, in the instance above, Greg is employing ‘us’ to denote the two Polish students, pitted against ‘them’, the others in the class. The us/them dichotomy was to reverberate throughout the adolescents’ narratives; its import will be examined further in Chapter 9.
The way that Greg has found himself positioned in the geography class sits in stark contrast to the way he positions himself a little later in the interview, when I ask the adolescents how they perceive themselves. (A fuller transcript can be found in Appendix 5, Extract A.4.)
Extract 6.19 (S3: interview with Greg, Beata & Janusz – Sara (SY); Greg (G))
327 SY: ok – er. so do you feel Polish or British. or – how do you feel?
[…]
330 G: I don’t know/ I’ve been living here quite a long time. so/ I only went like 331 infants’ school in Poland. […]
[…]
334 […] I don’t know/ I. I feel a bit both – but I’m obviously
335 Polish. on my certificate and everything in Polish but I think I’m kind of more 336 British. I’m used to this like environment. […]
Greg has been living in the UK for eleven years (Table 6.1); he uses an anglicised version of his Polish name, Grzegorz. Yet from the incident in the geography class described above, it would appear that Greg is not being allowed a British identity;
however much he feels himself to be ‘more British’ (Extract 6.19, lines 335-336), he is still viewed by others as Polish, a position he then takes up when forced onto the defensive (Extract 6.18).
The above accounts thus indicate how the adolescents are being positioned by their classmates as Polish migrants, and their parents as posing a threat. This chimes with the results of a UK survey conducted by the charity Show Racism the Red Card (SRTRC) that reveals the antagonistic stance children have towards migrants (Taylor
2015). Such attitudes are also echoed in findings by Ruck, Tenenbaum and Sines (2007) on adolescents’ hostility to asylum seeker children. Nonetheless, the
adolescents’ stories here suggest ways in which they challenge such positioning, be this in repositioning their parents professionally, or through direct confrontation as in Greg’s account.
In an interview at Grovesham, Tomasz and Ryszard also defend their position as Poles with a right to be in the UK. However, as will be discussed in the subsequent section, they draw on other discourses.