L-UNIVERSITÀ TA’ MALTA
UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
Msida - Malta
FAKULTÀ GĦAT-TISĦIĦ TAS-SOĊJETÀ
Msida - Malta
FACULTY FOR SOCIAL WELLBEING
The Department of Gender Studies will be
hosting a public lecture entitled
From Elite School to Ruling Elite: The Narcissistic Economies of Elite Schools and the
Production of Masculinities
Speaker: Prof. Debbie Epstein - University of Roehampton, UK
Venue: VC Hall 102, Level 1, IT Services Building
Date: Thursday 6th November 2014
Time: 18:00 till 20:00
This paper draws on fieldwork from the Elite Schools in Globalizing Circumstances multi-sited ethnographic project
(funded by the Australian Research Council) and a reading of the websites of elite schools. This five year project, with
a team of six researchers (Jane Kenway, Fazal Rizvi, Cameron McCarthy, Aaron Koh, Johannah Fahey and myself) is
studying schools, founded at least 100 years ago and modelled on the British independent school, in Argentina,
Australia, Barbados, Cyprus, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, South Africa, and the UK, some of them for girls only,
some coeducational and others for boys only.
Taking a psychoanalytic perspective, and with particular reference to famous English ‘public’ (i.e. independent)
schools, I argue that they are narcissistic institutions, grandiose in their claims and expressed opinions of themselves.
This, I suggest, is not only a necessary and major part of their marketing strategies, but also a reflection of how they
actually think of themselves. Focusing particularly on boys, I explore the ways in which they construct their own
masculinities as 'the best of the best', echoing and reproducing the narcissism of the schools themselves.
Since the governing elites in Britain (and, indeed, in other countries) are often made up primarily of men educated at
these schools, this gives rise to concern about what it means for the governance of societies, economies and cultures
when the ruling economic, social and political elites - predominantly men - have developed the narcissistic character
styles and versions of masculinity fostered by their schools.
The general public is cordially invited to attend this public lecture.
For enquiries, please feel free to contact Ms Samantha Grima by phone on 2340 3808 or by sending an
email to samantha.grima@um.edu.mt
About the Guest Speaker:
Debbie Epstein is Professor of Cultural Studies in Education at the University of
Roehampton. Born in South Africa, she moved to the UK in 1962. After graduating from
Sussex University, she became a school teacher, beginning her PhD after 20 years in this
profession. She has always been interested in structures and cultures of dominance and
(in) equality, asking what are the ways in which the dominant is held in place. Her
doctoral studies concerned whiteness and antiracism in school, published as Changing
Classroom Cultures: anti-racism, politics and schools (1993). Since her PhD, most of her
work has been about sexuality and gender in educational institutions, and also in popular
culture. Her books include Schooling Sexualities (1998), co-authored with Richard
Johnson, Silenced Sexualities.