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9 - The Morning Assembly

Constructing Subjecthood, Authority, and Knowledge through Classroom Discourse in an Indian School

from Part III - Language Socialization and Ideology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2020

By
Usree Bhattacharya  and
Laura Sterponi
Edited by
Matthew J. Burdelski  and
Kathryn M. Howard
Matthew J. Burdelski
Affiliation:
Osaka University
Kathryn M. Howard
Affiliation:
California State University, Channel Islands
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Summary

This chapter examines the ritual of Morning Assembly, the typical start to an Indian school day, which has long been ingrained within the Indian educational system, and, importantly, is considered to be “quite central in the approach to ethics education” (Duesund, 2013, p. 146). Constructed as a space for the inculcation of moral values regarding, among other aspects, citizenship and personal growth, this ritual typically entails dissemination of news, singing of patriotic and devotional songs in multiple languages, and edifying lectures. As part of a broader investigation of young boys at an orphanage in suburban New Delhi that entailed participant observation, audiovisual recordings, and interviews, the chapter focuses on two teachers’ lectures during the Morning Assembly to demonstrate how through the content, participation frameworks, and spatial and intercorporeal organization, the Morning Assembly is both a crucial institutional ritual and a dynamic site for socializing Indian children into specific dispositions and stances towards authority and knowledge. It argues that socialization into expected epistemic and moral stances is simultaneous and deeply entangled.

Keywords

Indiainterpellationcritical discourse analysisauthorityroutinesembodimentknowledgepledge
Type
Chapter
Information
Language Socialization in Classrooms
Culture, Interaction, and Language Development
 , pp. 181 - 199
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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