1st Edition

Bullied Tales of Torment, Identity, and Youth

By Keith Berry Copyright 2016
    200 Pages
    by Routledge

    200 Pages
    by Routledge

    In this examination of the ubiquitous practice of bullying among youth, compelling first person stories vividly convey the lived experience of peer torment and how it impacted the lives of five diverse young women. Author Keith Berry’s own autoethnographic narratives and analysis add important relational communication, methodological, and ethical dimensions to their accounts. The personal stories create an opening to understand how this form of physical and verbal violence shapes identities, relationships, communication, and the construction of meaning among a variety of youth. The layered narrative

    • describes the practices constituting bullying and how youth work to cope with peer torment and its aftermath, largely focusing on identity construction and well being;
    • addresses contemporary cyberbullying as well as other forms of relational aggression in many social contexts across race, gender, and sexual orientations;
    • is written in a compelling way to be accessible to students in communication, education, psychology, social welfare, and other fields.

    Table of Contents

    Preface

    Acknowledgements

    Chapter One: Bullying: A Narrative Opening to a Relational Problem

    Chapter Two: Cutting Through: The Journey and Horror of Finding Self-Love

    Reflexive Interlude One: The Little Professor

    Chapter Three: Pure Evil Entertainment

    Reflexive Interlude Two: Rope Burn

    Chapter Four: Flying Tomatoes: Cruella’s Clash with the Dalmatians

    Reflexive Interlude Three: Stretch

    Chapter Five: Highlight Girl: Finding Strength in her Weak Soul

    Reflexive Interlude Four: Of Frogs and Friends

    Chapter Six: A Narrative of Bullying and Rape

    Reflexive Interlude Five: Bennies on the Floor

    Chapter Seven: Opened—Bullying Communication and Identities, and the Power of Stories

    Appendix

    References

    Biography

    Keith Berry is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida and past Chair of the National Communication Association’s (NCA’s) Ethnography Division. He currently serves as Co-Chair of NCA’s Anti-Bullying Task Force.

    "The moral center of Keith Berry’s Bullied is located in his deep reflexive and empathetic capacities. This book is a must read for anyone who has ever been touch by bullying and for anyone who believes puzzling through a troubling social issue with intelligence, sensitivity, and compassion moves us closer to our better selves." – Ronald Pelias, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University

    "With Bullied, Keith Berry continues to establish himself as an expert of youth, identity, and interpersonal communication; an advocate for personal narrative, reflexivity, and social justice; and a practitioner committed to making life better, especially for those living with tormented pasts." –Tony E. Adams, Associate Professor and Chair of Department of Communication, Media, and Theatre at Northeastern Illinois University

    "This book moves beyond simple definitions and statistics, showing through rich narrative what youth bullying looks like and feels like in living color. The result is a poignant contribution that exposes the heartbreak that accompanies maltreatment, reveals the resiliency of the human spirit, and provides insight on autoethnographic methodological practice."—Sarah J. Tracy, Professor at the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication at Arizona State University