Secondary crimes: an ethnographic approach to crime fiction in a secondary school

Abstract

I carried out an ethnographic approach in a secondary school, with a double aim: on one hand, the observation of how the crime fiction genre is taught following the guidelines of the study programs and of the teachers’ concrete practices; on the other hand, the consideration of the students as cultural consumers –trained and in training. From my observations and exchanges with students and teachers, I conclude that crime fiction suffers a “secondary” condition in the educational establishment, with a series of institutional logics (temporary, spatial, exams, of other subjects, etc.) that overlap.