“A freak that no one can love” : Difficult knowledge in testimonials on school bullying

• This study adopts a testimonial approach to bullying victimisation,and aims to create a deeper understanding of the experiences andeffects of being a bullying target. Four written narratives about beingsubjected to school bullying were analysed according to interpretativephenomenological analysis. From the analysis, four themes wereconstructed, which represented different elements of victimhood: (1)Self-blame in which victims view themselves as the cause of thebullying, (2) Abandonment in which victims describe feelings ofstanding alone in their exposed situation, (3) Turning points inwhich the victims recount a variety of restorative events, and (4)Continued victimhood in which the victims relate how the feeling ofvictimhood and vulnerability continues even though the bullying hasended. In conclusion, school bullying is something that continues toaffect the individual adversely long after it has stopped, althoughstable friendship relations might have a mitigating influence.Through such relations, victimhood can be neutralised and a morepositive self-image develop. Moreover, as numerous other kinds ofvictims emphasise, an essential part of the rehabilitation process is tofinally be able to tell one’s story, to lay bare one’s difficult knowledgeto a wider audience.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

School bullying; self-blame; abandonment; turning point; testimony; phenomenology

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