The Making and Unmaking of a Bullying Victim

Abstract

This study focuses on a video-recorded meeting in which a 13-year old female student, in front of her teacher and parents, discloses that she is being bullied. Through a combination of a conversation analytic approach and a victimological perspective, the analyses center on how the student frames her own victimhood narrative as well as on how the other participants, mainly the teacher, respond. While the student in observable ways strives to portray herself as a genuine bullying victim, she nevertheless, after encountering a series of discursive practices, ends up as a rejected victim. This could potentially lead to a form of secondary victimization, in which the original suffering of the victim is exacerbated through inadequate responses by third parties. Three implications for teachers in similar positions are highlighted: (1) Thoroughly scrutinize your own discursive environment, (2) take every victimhood narrative seriously, and (3) solve the problem without delay.