Discursive positions on citizenship: tensions between ‘adultist’ hegemony and the crucial participation in Chilean schools

Abstract

A qualitative study is presented aiming to describe the discursive positions of students, teachers and families with respect to citizenship. Sixteen conversation groups were carried out with 107 participants from educational centers in two Chilean cities. After a structural analysis, the findings show a discursive structure composed of ten discursive positions. We found two major groupings, the hegemonic group (ciudadanía escolarizada, patriótica, burguesa, tutelada, infantilizadora, des- politizante and sexista), and the counter-hegemonic group (contra-ciudadanía, cuerpo-parlante and protagónica). These positions are organized in a relational structure that arranges and proposes ways of understanding the different citizenship practices. It is concluded that the hegemonic concept of citizenship regulates social relations for the formation of future citizens who are able to coexist, integrate and reproduce an unequal society. Likewise, the spaces of enunciation of dissidence or resistance provide clues about the possible cracks in the model of citizenship imposed in schools.