'Doing boy/ girl' and global/ local elements in 10-12 year olds’ drawings and written texts

Irish society has been undergoing very rapid change involving increasing globalisation, potentially declining localisation and changing gender roles (Tovey and Share, 2003; O’Connor, 1998 and 2,000; O’Toole, 2003). There is evidence to suggest that in this context Irish young people are using escapist mood altering drugs (particularly excessive alcohol and cannabis) to a greater extent than their European counterparts (HBSC, 2003; ESPAD, 2004). This study was concerned with looking at texts written by young people aged 10-12 years old in response to an invitation, to ‘tell their life stories’, to write a page ‘describing themselves and the Ireland that they inhabit’ ‘to provide a national data base’ ‘an invaluable archive’, with the option of using the reverse side of the sheet creatively for drawings, poems, songs, or lyrics. This paper is concerned with three issues: firstly with the relationship between the visual content of the drawings and the written texts; secondly with the relevance of a global/local dimension to understanding both; thirdly, with looking at gender variation in both of these and more broadly, at ways of ‘doing boy/girl’ (Haywood and Mac an Ghiall, 2003; Connnell, 2005).