Donelly Bowrin, Eva (2012) 'I want to be somebody' : identities of primary school leavers on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The research reported in this thesis is an investigation of identities of primary school leavers (10-13 years old) residing on the Caribbean territory, St. Kitts. Through two main phases and a pilot of an ethnography conducted intermittently between 2008 and 2011, I explored volunteer-participants' individual and collective identities. In particular, I explored their aspirations for the future and everyday living, the influences they perceive, and conceptualizations of and aspirations for the Caribbean. The aim was to gain insights into their understanding of Caribbean, thus, illuminating Caribbean-identity; two terms fuelling debates in the Social Science literature alleging a Caribbean-identity crisis. One of the main innovations of the design was my partnership with a group of primary school leavers who were trained to help as co-researchers to collaboratively generate and partially analyse data. The findings suggest participants have very positive perceptions of themselves as individuals; however, their identities seem more localized. They generally aspire to migrate, especially to America, to achieve success, and their conceptions of Caribbean vary greatly and seem uncertain while their overarching-aspiration for their island and region is for them to become "better" places socially, economically, politically, culturally, and environmentally. In part, this main finding conflicts with the idea of an identity-crisis on an individual-level, but supports ideas of a lack of a resolute sense of self on a regional-collective level for participants. Equally important, participants report many positive impacts resulting from their involvement. For some, the process contributed clarity about self and aspirations, and for others, it helped with not only a clearer-perspective, but also the development of life-skills.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	School children -- Saint Kitts and Nevis, Nationalism -- Saint Kitts and Nevis, Ideals (Psychology) in children -- Saint Kitts and Nevis, Identity (Psychology) in children -- Saint Kitts and Nevis
Date:	January 2012
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Institute of Education
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Christensen, Pia Monrad ; Niblett, Michael ; Jones, Cecily
Sponsors:	University of Sussex ; University of Warwick ; University of Warwick. Institute of Education
Extent:	xv, 381 leaves
Language:	eng
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/50046

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