The Oppressive Classroom Student Construction of Subjectivities

Adopting a poststructuralist discourse analysis framework, the study explores a student‘s multiple subjectivities framed within discursive relations of power. Acknowledging language as a major contestation site for negotiating subjectivities, it looks into the narrative of Ares, a senior university student. Utilizing the biographical approach, the study is centered on the shifting and fluid discourses in the student life of Ares, on how she was both positioned and positioning within conflicting discourses of an obedient student‖ and ―resisting student‖ surrounded by oppressive practices of academics. Obedience‖ in the context of Ares meant refraining from questioning an academic‘s authority, undervaluing the self, and playing by expectations. However, a competing discourse involved resistance‖ in the form of non-attendance to classes, contemplating on students‘ rights, recognizing oppression, blaming, and prescribing. These discourses can potentially provide a glimpse into the effects of academics‘ oppressive behaviors towards students and create possibilities for the development of institutional policies to help suppress a troubling culture of oppression in the academe. Implications for the academic community are considered.

Keywords – poststructuralist discourse, oppression, student subjectivity, obedience, resistance