Educating young women: an ethnographic study of secondary school students in Tanzania

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Drawing on the growing body of work on education and identity, this research proposes to explore how female identities are developed through school, guided by the research question 'how is educated femininity produced and performed?' The study takes the form of an ethnography of an all-girls state secondary school in Tanzania. The research is premised on the idea that rather than there being a generalised 'educated femininity' the production and performance of identities, while patterned, varies across time and space. The research, therefore, explores the lives of a group of female O-level students both at school and at home over a twelve month period. What has been termed 'educated femininity' is not produced in isolation, therefore interactions with young men, old men, women and comparisons with those who have had less or no schooling are also considered. Additionally, the research proposes to explore the performance of these identities across a variety of sites (church, home, classroom) and through a range of behaviours (style of dress, consumption).