Primary schoolboys’ embodied relationships in the classroom

Abstract

Interpersonal touch is crucial for establishing interpersonal bonds. Drawing on the framework of haptic sociality, this study explores the interactional emergence of embodied relationships among second-grade schoolboys as part of ongoing classroom activity. Focussing on forms of body-to-body behaviour that occur during classroom activities, we describe four different types of touch occurring between the boys – supporting, nudging, wrestling and grooming – and how they are collaboratively accomplished, how they change from one type to another, and how they are deployed as embodied negotiation withing a continuously unfolding embodied relationship. Complementing previous studies on embodied relationships among schoolgirls, our study focuses on the haptic social life of schoolboys.