An ethnographic study of school bullying, LGBTQI+ subjectivities and the institutional context of schooling in Sweden

While the connection between schooling and spatial factors has been emphasised in studies of bullying, few investigations have explored how these factors contribute to the marginalisation and bullying of students. There has also been limited research on LGBTQI+ marginalisation within the Swedish school context. In this study, we therefore explore the relations between school bullying, LGBTQI+ subjectivities, and the institutional context of schooling. The study was based on participant observations and semi-structured interviews with students and teachers from one eighth-grade class (ages 14-15) at one lower secondary school in Sweden. The field notes and interviews were analysed using a constructivist grounded theory approach. A spatial perspective was utilised to explore the relationship between homo-, bi- and transphobic marginalisation and bullying and the institutional context of schooling. Our findings highlight that the homo-, bi- and transphobic marginalisation and bullying of LGBTQI+ students was an ongoing issue at the school, and that this was related to the institutional context of schooling. Importantly, our findings point to a process of spatial marginalisation, whereby social, environmental, and structural elements affected the rights and subjectivities of young people, awareness, and attempts to deal with LGBTQI+ issues and the ongoing LGBTQI+ bullying at the school.