Distinction, Exclusivity and Whiteness

Dr. Pere Ayling is a lecturer and researcher at the University of Suffolk. A trained sociologist, her areas of specialization include consumption, (in)equality, race, elite education and class (re)production strategies.  She is particularly interested in how social class, gender and race intersect to (re)produce ‘privilege’ and ‘inequality’ in education and society in general. Having been educated in Nigeria and the UK has provided her with a broader and unique perspective on key issues in education beyond England in particular and Europe in general. As a sociologist, her areas of interest are in the sociology of education, race and disability. However, her work also explores how habitus, field and capital interact to (re)produce privilege and inequality in education and society in general. She is equally interested in understanding how and why concepts such as white and whiteness are used to construct the ideas of quality and world-class status by private schools in thetransnational education market.

1 An introduction: Researching the contemporary Nigerian elites.- Part 1.- 2 Bordieu's Theory of practice.- 3 Frantz Fanon: Whiteness, Colonialism and the 'Colonial habitus'.- 4 Elite schools as sites for elite class reproduction and identity formation.- Part 2.- 5 Whiteness: The colour of 'quality' education in contemporary Nigeria.- 6 The Soft-selling of 'World-class' Education.- 7 The making of the contemporary Nigerian 'elite' Child.- 8 Consuming overseas schooling: An act of parental love?.- 9 Researching elite Nigerian parents: Lessons learned and new directions.