A daily war is waged in schools all over the United States over wall space. Adolescents are using school walls to convey messages, create name recognition, slander each other, or for claiming territorial space. On the other side is the school administration, which paints over and erases these unsanctioned claims to space, power and identity, as it…

Explores the tensions and interactions among four 13-year-old boys in a British secondary classroom. Suggests that the boys subscribe to a hegemonic ideal of masculinity that celebrates autonomy as the individualized rejection of dependence in relationships in school. Relates this to broader changes in available social texts. (MJP)