African American Girls' Virtual Selves
Computers
are one facet of our media saturated society. Their present-day existence
has redefined how individuals interact. As any social fixture, this technological
tool remains subject
to sex differences. Although diminishing, boys still tend to use computers
more and have more self-confidence with them than girls (Colley &
Comber, 2003). Responsively, more reports and programs increasing and
enhancing girls' interactions with technology have emerged (Miller, 1996;
Valenza, 1997; Volman & van Eck, 2001; Weinman & Haag, 1991).
However, African American girls and their relationships to technology
are narrowly understood. Indeed, software designers rarely consider African
American girls as a potential audience (Morgan, 2002). Beyond the technology
world, many social scientists also ignore the complex, lived experiences
of African American girls and focus on their strangeness (Collins, 2000;
hooks, 1984). The limited research on African American girls does suggest
some unique racialized-genderized patterns of behaviors (Scott, 2002,
2003; Horvat & Lewis, 2003). How these behaviors appear, if at all,
in virtual space remains misunderstood. Since students attending low-income
schools have more school access to computers than ever before (Warschauer,
et al., 2004), knowledge of how African American girls in under-resourced
schools interact in virtual space versus real-time may benefit scholars,
practitioners, and software designers.
In this article,
I discuss the results of two qualitative studies concerning a group of
58 African American girls attending an urban school district. Findings
from the first study document year one of a longitudinal project examining
how the girls develop socially and academically in a state-operated school
district. Data from the second study,1
illustrate how a subgroup of the girls (n=22) develop their technology
skills. Drawing on Black Feminist Theory, this article compares the findings
from both projects to explore how this group of African American girls'
peer behaviors, recorded during their school interactions, juxtapose with
their peer interactions in cyberspace.
Analysis of the data reveals themes of connectedness, autonomy, individuality, body self-imaging, and control. In the real-time (actual time) context of the classroom; in an extracurricular empowerment group; and in virtual spaces provided by a summer technology camp, the girls maintained their interest in creating and maintaining a strong female collection. An integral part of their connectedness was establishing their individuality. In both settings, the girls took great pains to present a multifaceted self that was concerned with both political and personal issues. Not surprisingly, language became the primary means of self-expression in both real-time and virtual contexts. While presenting images of themselves as strong African American females seemed to be the norm for this peer culture, when the girls were allowed to manipulate digital photos of themselves on computers, they modified their images according to mainstream beauty standards. In this way, technology became a means to exercise control over their social lives; little attention was paid to the intellectual benefits of technology despite understanding how it could benefit their professional aspirations. How the African American girls in this context relate to each other and how they use the technology available to them has implications not only for educators using technology in the classroom, but also for computer software designers.
Where
is Black Barbie?
Efforts to
create gender-sensitive software with games and sites aimed at girls have
lagged behind attempts to create software that may appeal to girls from
various racial and ethnic groups. Importantly, there are few educational
software programs or games starring female characters in general and females
of color in particular (AAUW, 2000). When they do exist, African American
female game characters are often portrayed as victims of violence, non-competitors,
or even simple props. The disproportionate White female characters in
computer games further stereotypes, as they often represent helpless princesses,
caregivers, or high-pitched damsels-in-distress with hypersexualized physical
attributes (Linn, 1999). Most children's computer software programs identify
boys as their key market over girls. When girls are considered, software
designers tend to cater more to White girls' sensibilities than their
African American correlates. For example, the first game aimed at the
girls' market, Barbie Fashion Designer, shows two girls on the
game's cover playing the game together at a computer. One is White and
the other is African American. However, "the game itself offers only
a White, blond-haired Barbie character to dress" (Fisher, 2003, p.24).
Since girls demonstrate a greater need to feel that they can relate to
female game characters than boys, (Subrahmanyam & Greenfield, 1998)
the absence of strong African American female characters in computer games
may impede Black girls' interactions with this software. In addition,
because girls tend to use the Internet for games (Schoenberg, 2001), the
limited number of Black female game images may also depress Black girls'
online usage. So how do African American girls relate to technology?
Little is know as to what games, computer software, or sites appeal to African American girls. Research on girls' technological preferences tends to essentialize the female experience. That girls enjoy creating webpages for peer interaction, articulating one's voice without instant reprisal, communicating with others, presenting a confident self and receiving information about "embarrassing topics" has been noted (Fisher, 2003). However, these behaviors do not necessarily apply to African American girls.
Black
Female Networks
African American girls and women value a female network that offers a "safe space" (Collins, 2000). Black Feminist theorists explain that safe spaces "constitute one mechanism among many designed to foster Black women's empowerment and enhance our ability to participate in social justice projects" (ibid. p. 110). In these spaces, Black women develop ideas of how to confront controlling images and daily oppressions. The safe spaces Black female networks create also permit African American women to use their unique language patterns. Among other trusted members of the network, Black women create a space in which their dreams, hopes, pain, and struggles can be voiced using a multitude of speech styles. Hobbs (2004) found that African American women's diverse discourse practices not only demonstrate their ability to code switch during verbal expressiveness, but to also adopt different speech styles in various written contexts. Although both the print and on-line versions of the African American female space Hobbs examined - namely, the magazine Essence - reflect the lived experiences of African American women, it is in the on-line magazine where she noted a unique "production of a discourse that combines spoken and written elements to create a new form" (p. 10). Free from critical eyes, these interactive spaces nurture an environment in which Black women can continuously define themselves without recrimination. Self-definition becomes a journey to understanding the oppressive forces shaping the Black female experiences (Collins, 2000). Empirical research suggests how some African American girls respond to this process.
Multiple
Selves and African American Girls
Some scholars
argue that when low-income African American students recognize their disadvantaged
positions, the realization can foster an ideology opposing academic achievement
and which can equate success with "acting White" (Fordham &
Ogbu, 1986; Fordham, 1988, 1996; Ogbu, 1989, 1990). Other work, however,
presents a more nuanced explanation, suggesting that some students from
this population may become inspired to succeed (O'Connor, 1997, 1999;
Horvat & Lewis, 2003).
In her ethnographic
study of 46 low-income, African-American adolescents attending two under-resourced
Chicago high schools, O'Connor (1997) outlines many disheartening images
of collective disengagement, pessimism, and perceived hopelessness for
social mobility. Assuming that their chances to achieve their own aspirations
were slim, the majority (n=40) of her participants put forth little academic
effort. However, she identified six participants who did achieve. These
participants continued to be optimistic about their futures despite their
consciousness of structural constraints, and they established a strong
Black collective identity of struggle. Two of the six participants were
African American girls who recognized not only racial and social class
constrictions, but also the interplay of gender as another intersecting
unit on their achievements. These two students, like the others, still
developed a disposition, a selfhood O'Connor describes as resilient. More
recent research corroborates O'Connor's findings.
Horvat and
Lewis's (2003) study explores peer influence on high-achieving African
American girls. Challenging Ogbu (1989, 1990) and Fordham's (1988, 1996)
claim that high-achieving African American students often experience rejection
from their same-race peers who gain academic success, Horvat and Lewis
reveal a slightly different account. Many of the girls in their work admit
that they feel discomfort discussing their accomplishments with some of
their peers and learn to circumvent the topic. As a result, they maintain
contact with their same-race, same-gender peers without envy. However,
some of the participants describe how their peers enjoy communicating
with them and express pride in their accomplishments despite their own
perceived failures. Importantly, a Black female network-one to which different
African American female selves may belong - prevails in such instances.
Even for young African American girls, neither achievement nor a unique
self disrupts the female collectivity.
Among low-income,
first-grade African American girls who attended a predominantly African
American school, I (Scott 2002, 2003) chronicled how a female network
of students formed an integral part of their peer culture. Even when the
most egregious of social infractions occurred (e.g. divulging group secrets
to boys), the culprit's quantity and quality of interactions with the
rest of the group did not change. The girls in this context developed
a culture intolerant of social exclusion. Oppositional behavior and attitudes
were accepted as unique, individual traits. Indeed, promoting one's individuality
within the group became an important performance within the network's
space. As unique members of the female cohort with articulated distinct
talents and gifts, group interdependency shaped the contours of this collective.
Importantly, I did not note the same level of inclusiveness among the
first-grade African American girls located in a more affluent, culturally-diverse
school. In this middle-income context, a White female hierarchical peer
structure evolved in which African American girls perpetually occupied
a low-status position.
While Black
women "empower themselves by creating self-definitions and self-valuations
that enable them to establish positive multiple images, and repel negative,
controlling representations of Black woman" (Taylor, 1998, p. 234-235),
African American girls are still affected by representations of womanhood,
Blackness, and their combination. Consequentially, "the intersectional
experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis
that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently
address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated"
(Crenshaw, 2000, p. 209). Black women's survival has depended on creating
a multidimensional life with various dimensions of the self to confront
multiple, intersecting oppressions. The emergent representations of the
Black female self, however, remain filtered through racist and sexist
social institutions, such as schools and the media. Few individuals, including
African American girls, are explicitly taught the meanings of these images
because "the controlling images…are so pervasive that even though
the images themselves change in the popular imagination, Black women's
portrayal as the Other persists" (Collins, 2000, p. 88).
Standards
of beauty continue to otherize Black females. Collins (2000) explains
how blue-eyed, blonde, and thin White women continue to epitomize what
is beautiful, desirable, and important. Adopted by the majority of women
and men in society, these standards prevail. Collins argues that, "regardless
of any individual woman's subjective reality, this is the system of ideas
that she encounters. Because controlling images are hegemonic and taken
for granted, they become virtually impossible to escape" (p. 90).
At the same time, Hill (2002) finds that most African Americans gauge
an African American woman's attractiveness according to her skin color.
The same standard is not used for men. How such actions shape the contours
of Black femaleness and inform the girls' relationships in real and virtual
contexts remains narrowly understood.
As the digital divide purportedly becomes a distant memory, questions remain as to how African American girls integrate their racialized-genderized lived experiences into their developing technological consciousness. How do self-perceptions as African American girls emerge in the virtual world technology creates? To what extent do they import their real-time racialized-genderized peer behaviors and self-perceptions from a world into a virtual space? In an attempt to address these issues, I conducted a comparative analysis of two data sets.
Methodology
While assuming
that "ethnography is both a process and a product" (Tedlock,
2000, p. 455), the methodological techniques I employed required me to
traverse several boundaries, negotiate relations with the participants,
and modify my procedures accordingly (Morse & Richards, 2002; Wolcott,
2001). Fundamental ethnographic procedures, observations, interviews,
and focus groups allowed me to capture the emic perspective - how the
girls make sense of their lives in school and while interacting with technology
- and present a holistic story. Since context is "crucial to the
documentation of human experience and organization of culture" (Lawrence-Lightfoot,
1997, p. 41), I paid particular attention to the sociopolitical dimensions
of the settings. Indeed, Leafview's unique context and the girls' own
position as African American females attending this failing district inform
the girls' behaviors, beliefs, and self-perceptions in real-time and with
technology. At the same time, the district's troubles and my own racialized-genderized
self played significant roles in my gaining access.
During the
2001-2002 school year, I became the sole researcher who was allowed access
to the state-operated school district called Leafview.2
Located in a Northeastern state, Leafview is considered to be an urban
community. The majority of its 3,286 kindergarten through 12th grade students
are categorized as African American (78%), followed by a growing percentage
of Hispanic students (18%). Nestled within a county of 1.3 million where
the larger White population (86%) remains segregated from its comparatively
smaller Black counterparts (9.6%), Leafview is a small Black enclave with
an average population of 17,300 residents of which 5,100 are under 18
years of age. During the past several years, the state education department
has flagged the educational achievements of Leafview's students as not
meeting minimal state standards. In 2001, the Commissioner of Education
took over governance and appointed a new superintendent; dismantled the
board of education; and authorized the state to takeover management of
Leafview's six schools. In this relatively small district, there is one
pre-school, three elementary schools, one junior high, and the high school.
The junior high is physically connected to the high school, causing most
of the residents and school officials to describe the two units as one-the
High School.
In this predominantly
African American district, academic success remains elusive for many students.
With a high dropout rate, frequent teen pregnancies, and recurring incidents
of gang violence, no more than one-half of the district's ninth-grade
class continues on to the twelfth-grade. While these problems exist in
the districts' middle and upper grades, the students attending the district's
three elementary schools tend to experience high levels of success.
I was granted
access to two of the three elementary schools. The process of gaining
entry, however, was especially arduous. Since Leafview is a state-operated
district often described in local and national papers in terms of its
failures, gaining the participants' trust played a pivotal role in my
study. I spent four months meeting with school and district administrators
explaining my study, its purpose, and how it would benefit the district.
Despite my sharing the same racial category as the majority of the participants,
questions of my Black femaleness became an issue. Thanks to one of my
graduate students, Mr. Daniel, who was Leafview's final board president
before its dissolution by the state education department, I gained access.
It was he who convinced the two elementary school principals, community
leaders, and many of the parents that my teaching, scholarship, and history
as a social activist could be of benefit to the African American girls
I was interested in studying. Since gaining access consumed more time
than I had anticipated, I modified some of my original methodological
procedures.
For the five
remaining months of the 2001-2002 academic year, I observed and interviewed3
58 African American sixth graders. I recorded in my field notes the girls'
same- and cross-sex classroom interactions, as well as their verbal and
nonverbal expressiveness displayed during these interactions. To gather
as much data as possible before the conclusion of the year, I trained
another female graduate student to also conduct classroom observations.
Although I circulated between both of the two schools, this graduate student
spent the majority of her time in only one of the two settings. I purposely
made this decision upon realizing that the sixth grade teachers expressed
higher levels of comfort with her than me.4
With three sixth grade classes between the two schools, we conducted observations
in each class once a week.
In addition
to our classroom observations, I also regularly attended an extracurricular
event. One-half of the participants attended a school in which a girls'
after-school empowerment group existed. As a result, I augmented my classroom
observation visits and took note of the girls' interactions with others
and how they presented themselves in this other context. While conducting
classroom observations, I assumed the role of complete observer (Merriam,
1998) so as not to disturb classroom activities. However, during the empowerment
meetings, the leader often called on me to participate. As a result, my
role in this setting was that of participant-observer. My continued presence
in both spaces, however, allowed me to establish a rapport with the participants
and ultimately gain their trust. As a result, I had many informal interviews
with the girls while entering and/or exiting their respective building.
Instead of
the original plan to conduct individual interviews with each of the girls,
time constraints forced me to organized focus groups instead. As a result,
I used the focus groups to discuss salient issues drawn from the classroom
and empowerment group observations (Krueger, 1994). Divided into groups
of five to six students, I posed an identical set of semi-structured questions
to each collective. I interviewed each group twice for no more than one
hour during the girls' lunch period. Conversations were tape-recorded
and then transcribed verbatim. Additionally, I trained three female graduate
students to record the girls' nonverbal expressions during these meetings.
The graduate students were also responsible for managing the equipment
(e.g. the tape recorder) and other custodial tasks (e.g. serving the girls
the lunch we ordered for them) which allowed me to focus on posing the
open-ended questions, ensuring each group member participated, and monitoring
the flow of the conversation. In the end, we collected nearly 500 pages
of data.
At the conclusion
of year one, Fisher (2003) conducted a case study with a subgroup of the
participants from my study. Interested in how African American girls perceive
grrrl sites (websites that highlight girls' empowered voices) and software,
she designed a one-week summer technology camp for the girls. Both Fisher
and I encouraged all of the original 58 girls to participate. Written
information about the camp was distributed to the girls during my final
focus group, and it was provided to the twenty parents I interviewed.
It was also given to the girls' teachers during their interviews. Additionally,
Fisher met many of the parents when I conducted parent interviews in the
school. At the conclusion of my exchanges with the parents, I explained
the nature of Fisher's project and encouraged them to speak with her before
leaving. All of the parents with whom I met expressed interest in the
concept of the camp. They saw it as an opportunity for their daughters
to expand their technological skills at a local university, free of charge.
Despite these measures, only 22 of the original 58 girls attended the
weeklong four-hour camp.
In an attempt
to provide the girls an overall structure and institutional support, Fisher
organized the camp as a Girl Scout E-Troop-that is, a troop with a focus
on technology. However, unlike most troops, the girls met at my university
and were able to access the university's technology. In addition to the
facilities, the university permitted Fisher to use their Blackboard software
system. Blackboard is an on-line course management system for educators
at any level. This allowance greatly expanded the girls' technological
experiences. It also required some formal instruction to occur. While
collecting data, Fisher also provided the girls with rudimentary lessons
necessary for her evaluation. Along with a female undergraduate student
who served as the laboratory assistant, Fisher taught the girls how to
create webpages and evaluate websites, create and manipulate digital pictures,
gather information using the Internet, create and modify Word documents,
and communicate in virtual space (e.g. in a chat room or on a bulletin
board). As a result, Fisher served as a participant-observer during the
technology meetings. Qualitative data included girls' comments on an electronic
bulletin board specifically designed for the troop; journals recording
impressions of the day's events; girls' personal webpages; and an on-line
survey requesting the girls' evaluations of 58 grrl sites. In addition,
Fisher conducted semi-structured individual interviews. The individual
interviews were used to gain additional information and/or clarification
concerning individual journal responses, message board discussions, and/or
observed behaviors.
Initially, Fisher and I analyzed our data separately. For both studies, we applied a modified version of grounded theory (Straus & Corbin, 1998) involving line-by-line coding of the observation and interview data. As an inductive qualitative method, grounded theory allowed us "to constantly compare, to theoretically sample, to generate categories and properties and to discover the main concern of the participants." (Glaser, 1998, p. 98). In both studies, we made comparisons between what was observed and the girls' responses to questions posed during focus groups, individual interviews, and informal interviews. Upon further analysis of our data, themes and patterns emerged. What became evident to me was the similarity between our identified themes. This recognition motivated me to conduct a more systematic analysis of our distinct data. Just as our individual work involved detecting patterns and themes, by comparing our field notes, focus group data, and transcribed interview notes I was able to search for similarities and differences. Ultimately, analysis for this study involved locating themes across and within texts.
"Closer
Friends"
Despite,
or perhaps because of, the publicized problems with Leafview, the sixth-grade
girls took great pains to establish a female network. Dyadic or triadic
groups are problematic in this peer culture. When one or two girls regularly
separate from a cohort, and there are no more than three groups in a class
of 15 girls, such acts elicit accusatory responses. For example, once
Leisha realized that Janella was spending less time with the group and
sequestering herself with only one girl, Leisha asks, "You used to
want to be my friend and all of us, but now you just want to go off with
just her." The tears in Leisha's eyes accompanied by her furrowed
brow reflect the seriousness of this situation. As Leisha and Janella
stand before the female cohort, Janella fails to give a response and remains
rooted in her spot waiting for acceptance. Her slow smile and mumbled
words of, "I'm sorry," curry the group's grace. The next time
I observe this same collective, they are all together, talking, moving,
and playing.
Publicly
confronting a girl about transgressions becomes the means to solve group
conflict. The urgency of the matter depends upon its potential disruption
to the group. When an individual seems to talk about boys and suggests
spending time with one, the girls immediately confront the speaker informing
her that she need not entertain such ideas. If a speaker introduces the
possibility of having sex with a boy, even if it is said in the negative
(e.g. "I'm not havin' no sex with him") this sets off another
set of alarms. The group response becomes more assertive and confrontational
with many members spontaneously accusing the speaker of compromising her
morals. However, the most distressing incidents that require meetings
prior to a verbal assault are when the group perceives a member physically
disassociating from them. When this occurs, the group will plan to meet
without the accused to discuss how they will approach the individual.
The girls sometimes referred to this as "the council," and a
subset of the group assigns roles. A spokesperson and a few witnesses
to share their accounts are all that is necessary for the confrontation.
However, the group expects all of its members to be present. In an attempt
to resolve the issue as expeditiously as possible, the girls spend no
more than one day planning the approach.
Friendship
is an unparalleled notion among the girls. For the participants, friends
could serve as saviors during the darkest moments. As Angel explains,
"They'll encourage you and keep hope when you have lost hope."
The majority of the girls identify female classmates as their true friends.
Sharing a wide range of emotions with friends becomes normalized behavior
in this setting. Hurt, anger, distrust, and jealously are some of the
sentiments the girls express in highly emotional ways. Even when group
members and/or incidents cause an individual girl to cry, her tears are
not taken as a sign of weakness. Rather, they signal to the group that
a member needs their assistance. Importantly, many times the tears are
a result of a girl confronting another about her aspirations.
Friends -
as the girls refer to those belonging to their cohort - tell other friends
the "truth 'bout themselves." Even when the truth may cause
hurt feelings, the girls believe they are doing a great service to each
other by "tellin' it like it is." Recorded during the girls'
empowerment group, the following incident reflects this point.
The girls crowd around the table. The adult leader has asked each to tell one person at the table something about themselves that they should work on. Many raise their hands to begin, but the leader chooses Juanita to initiate the discussion.
Juanita: I want to say something to Danisha! I don't know what it is, but in class you always be messin' up like-
Danisha: What are you talkin' about? I know you not talkin' to me!"
Juanita: Like I was sayin', it's like you be reading and get to a word you don't know and instead of asking one of us [the girls] to help you, you get this funny feelin' inside of you and start actin' up-Danisha (with tears in her eyes): You don't know what I be goin' through! You have no right to say that about me! You don't know!"
At this point, Danisha runs out of the room crying and Juanita puts her head down on the table also crying. The other girls look at each other and quietly decide that one-half of them will follow Danisha who is now in the hall while the others sit with Juanita. I first go to Danisha who explains the following.
Danisha: She has no right sayin' that stuff. She don't know what I be goin' through at my home tryin' to read and junk. I want to read good, but I don't have time at home to do it. She don't know my home life.
Mya (with her arms around Danisha's sobbing shoulders): We will help you but you got to let us.
I return to the room where Juanita continues to have her head on the desk as girls whisper into her ear and push tissues into her hands. They make space for me and I ask Juanita why she is upset.
Juanita: I didn't want to make her [Danisha] feel bad but I wanted her to know that we know what is doing and we can help her!
Communication
using assertive language plays a principal role among this peer group.
The above incident represents one of the many volatile moments I witnessed.
At such times, and if they occurred outside the classroom, the girls often
abandon the "proper" language they use in the classroom. In
the more teacher-directed context, the girls are careful with their verbal
expressiveness even when communicating with each other. Since three of
the six teachers actively use group work in their pedagogical practices,
the girls have ample opportunities to communicate. However, even when
the teacher is not in close proximity to a girl collective, the girls
continue speaking "proper." Indeed, if an individual slips and
uses "ain't" or phrases such as "you be," other girls
quickly correct the perpetrator demanding, "Why you talkin' like
that in here?" In general, the girls use their female network to
create a collective identity of high expectations and empowerment.
Between the
two schools, the majority of the girls have clear visions of their future
selves. Although the girls attending one school display a greater ability
to articulate their goals than girls in the other school, few of the girls
fail to describe their aspirations. Becoming a doctor, lawyer, hairdresser,
or dancer occupies their minds. More importantly, their peer group holds
each member accountable for their goal. That is, if a girl states, "I
want to be vice-president of a corporation", but her behavior is
exceptionally quiet, she avoids assuming leadership roles, and/or has
trouble articulating her ideas, her friends are quick to say, "How
you goin' to be vice-president of anything when you don't speak up? You
mumble everything so no one can hear you! How you going to have people
listen to you, follow you when you don't talk?" Such attacks are
not meant to hurt feelings but to demonstrate the group's ethic of care.
Indeed, if these approaches cause a girl to remove herself from the group
- and this is often the case - the group will make a concerted effort
to re-include her. Inclusionary practices tend to involve the group circling
the detached girl and screaming, "Sorry!", until the isolated
girl smiles and rejoins the collective.
Away from
the school, the girls' relationship with technology becomes one characterized
by the use of technology as a tool to establish a context which serves
their sociocultural needs. From the very first day, all of the camp attendees
were eager to participate in the activities. Many of the girls later admitted
they begged their parents to attend the sessions. The girls' excitement
stems from the possibility of "learning new stuff" and having
access to a university's technological resources. For the girls, however,
gaining knowledge does not translate into increasing their intellectual
capabilities.
From informal
interviews with the girls, I learned that the girls realize their district
cannot afford to provide them the same technological opportunities Fisher
(2003) was presenting. This understanding motivates them throughout the
entire week. Indeed, the girls want to be challenged with innovative activities.
When review lessons appear, the girls do not allow sentiments of boredom
to consume their time. Instead, they apply newly acquired skills to maintain
a particular cultural climate, as well as their interests. Instead of
following Fisher's directions, many of them find innovative ways to use
the technology to their benefit.
Although
they could not articulate a connection between gaining technological knowledge
and broadening their academic skills, the girls believed that acquiring
technological knowledge would benefit their career goals. (One student
stated that, "Every doctor uses a computer!") At the same time,
the girls quickly acknowledged the immediate social advantages of technology.
The computer provided them with opportunities to control, manipulate,
and even revise their lived experiences so that these technological contexts
contains many of the same characteristics as their real-time culture.
Their efforts, however, sometimes diverged from Fisher's (2003) intent.
Once the
girls learn how to communicate without yelling across the computer lab,
they take great pleasure using the computers to maintain a collective
identity. In this context, friends are again important. The digital camera,
for example, proves to be instrumental in strengthening friendship bonds.
Taking pictures of each other, uploading the various images, and helping
the person photographed to select the best image for her webpage facilitated
the friendship process. It is important to note that the girls do not
make this an opportunity to create dyads. Instead, they learn to work
as a group. They solicit advice and assistance from multiple individuals
in the picture selection process, and they learn to operate the camera
and upload pictures on the computer together. Comments posted to each
other on the virtual bulletin board reflect that this digital photography
activity was the most popular. One student claimed, "The best part
about today was taking pictures of each other. I think that we have the
same ideas."
When actual
lessons occur, Fisher's (2003) lecturing does little to dissuade the girls
from communicating with each other. Instant messaging (IMing) each other
becomes a normalized behavior. It is in this virtual space that the girls
"meet" and get to know each other. Since the majority of the
instruction requires individual activities, the girls become quite adept
at transforming these activities into group interactions. IMing each other
to seek clarification on points presented in class by Fisher becomes one
way to maintain the lines of group communication. The preferred virtual
location for communication, however, was the chat room. In this context,
the girls communicated with multiple members of their group. Blue's sentiments
reflect the group consensus, "Today I had a great time because I
got to meet everyone again like Tweety and Mist. I like that we can meet
each other again and chat online." In essence, the girls use technology
to claim ownership over this context. The technology allows the girls
to demonstrate the high value communication represents in their culture-sharing
group. Music holds an equally important role.
Playing music during the camp is a group activity. Even if individual girls play different songs, the music coalesced the group in various ways. First, for those girls not familiar with how to download music, others with the expertise happily taught all. Second, once every occupied computer was playing a song from what the girls considered to be the best hip-hop artists, group members continued communication with questions such as, "Where'd you find that?" and/or "What are you listening to?" After the second day of the camp, Fisher found that the girls could not concentrate on any of her instructions until each individual girl's computer was properly playing a song.
"I
Don't Think Bush Should've Gotten It"
The girls
are acutely aware that the media and the surrounding districts imagine
them and their district as hopeless failures. Despite this realization,
the girls define themselves as autonomous individuals who can overcome
all odds. Integral to this thinking is constructing a multifaceted self-image.
That is, when asked about future goals, few limit their response to exclusively
articulating career plans. Instead, the girls discuss their college, family,
and career plans. Some girls even venture to provide a sequence
of events. One student stated, "I'm going to be a professional dancer
and my first choice is to go to Yale. I want a husband and five kids because
I love children. And you know when I want to do all of this? Not until
I am 25!" This I-can-have-it-all attitude becomes pervasive
in their peer culture. With one eye on the future, some girls turn the
other eye on the politics shaping their present lived experiences.
One of the
most surprising findings for me is the girls' political acuity. As eleven-
and twelve-year olds, the majority understands the basic premises of a
bipartisan system and are quick to articulate their party affiliation.
With at least six more years until they reach voting age, the girls enjoy
discussing political issues within their network. Raina is particularly
politically aware and she often initiates political conversations among
her peers. During one focus group, she expresses the following about the
2000 presidential election, "I wanted Gore to win. I don't think
Bush should've gotten it. That wasn't fair, but then again with everything
that Clinton did with Monica I can't really say I'm a Democrat."
Raina's friends demonstrate respect for her opinion. Indeed, they enjoy
listening to her rants about the political system claiming to "learn
a lot" from her. Raina's unique political self does not threaten
the female network. Although she knows more about national politics than
most of her classmates or friends, she is not a rival. Indeed, competition
seems not to be a part of this peer collective.
If a girl
demonstrates a self that is academically astute, her scholastic achievements
are celebrated among the peers. Public praise, however, is not given at
the expense of another. In the school that hosts the empowerment group,
inspectors condemned one-half of the building. This decision forces the
principal to crowd two of the three sixth-grade classes into one room.
In spite of this physical inconvenience - which also resulted in the destruction
of the playground, elimination of physical education, and moving classrooms
to the gymnasium - two sixth-grade girls' academic achievements shine.
With the help of student input, the principal selects Julia, and then
later also includes Corrine, as the graduating sixth-grade class' valedictorians.
Before the public announcement of Julia's position, her classmates proudly
applaud both girls' achievements during the focus group. During an informal
interview, Julia demands I not inform Corinne that she was the second
valedictorian, "She is my best friend and I don't want her to feel
bad about me. It's like, so what, we are both smart, but I don't want
her to feel bad." Interestingly, although Julia's friends know about
her honor none of them inform Corinne. Social acceptance and maintaining
a connectedness with each other is more important than flaunting one's
individual talents.
The girls'
dreams and aspirations do not outweigh Leafview's problems. As African
American girls in a publicly failing district, the girls understand their
district's deficiencies. They are quick to demonstrate a keen understanding
that the media paints a biased view of them and their environment. To
a great extent, they identify the disproportionate news articles about
negative incidents connected to African Americans as a byproduct of living
in a racist society. In summarizing how they believe the media portrays
them and their lack of accomplishments, Shante posed a rhetorical question,
"Why they keep callin' us niggers?" Feelings of distrust and
anger permeate much of the conversations about their public image. During
such discussions, the girls demonstrate an extremely impressive dimension
of their developing consciousness and their self-development. Instead
of describing themselves as victims of the negative media attention, they
assume a more empowered persona-that of critical observer.
Complaints
about the media coverage also include comments and pointed suggestions
about how to improve the district. Repeatedly, the girls provide examples
on how the media "use" them to continue promoting the image
of Leafview's despair. The following statement from Isolda is one of many
examples demonstrating how the girls develop a political awareness of
the media. She states, "They always be talking about the bad in Leafview…one
reporter came in and asked me a whole lot of questions about what I thought
and I took him around the school and all and yeah I said that bathrooms
need to be cleaned up but I talked about a lot of stuff, like about the
dance troupe going to Africa, the awards some of the kids get, the valedictorians,
and the next morning the whole story was about the bathrooms!"5
Very few
of the girls abandon their dreams even though their understanding of possible
structural constraints increases as the year continues. Often their comments
reflect how they perceive their race and gender as barriers to success.
As Beth points out concerning her aspirations to become the nation's president
or a judge, "I want to be a president and they [White people] don't
want a woman to be a president or Black person. And as for a judge, they
don't want me to speak my mind. They don't want a Black girl like me to
judge a trial." She continues saying, however, "That's not gonna
stop me, however. I plan to go to Howard's Law School!"
Preparing
one's self for future goals also includes physical preparation. Like so
many eleven- and twelve-year old girls, appearance is important for the
Leafview participants. The majority of the girls admit to participating
in some form of sports activity offered in their communities. Basketball
and football (for some students) are popular. Another fashionable and
physically demanding activity is dance. Only a few girls belong to the
prestigious community dance troupe that organizes yearly trips to Africa.
Many of the girls wish to belong but do not for various reasons (i.e.
time constraints, money, lack of transportation). For those who cannot
participate in the troupe, they still root as audience members for their
"luckier" friends.
As with any
culture-sharing group, some individuals are less liked than others. Regardless
of the specific reasons for these sentiments, the collective still embraces
the individual for her talents. To my surprise, the least-popular girl
was often elected to hold influential posts. For example, when selecting
a person to organize their teacher's surprise birthday party, the majority
votes for Danisha. When asked about their decision, individual girls explain
that despite her "loud talk and actin' all wrong sometimes"
she knows how to organize. A budding perfectionist, Danisha arranges a
classroom party with dancers (inviting some of the girls involved in the
community troupe), full classroom decorations, music, and gifts. A marginal
student who has already been retained once in her elementary career, Danisha
receives many kudos from her classmates about the "slammin' party"
she organizes.
For the girls,
they also learn to use the computer as a tool by which they can express,
and in some instances re-create, their multifaceted developing selves.
When the girls create their webpages, the majority includes information
that concerns a multitude of interests and activities in which they engage.
As Lime's webpage illustrates, the girls include information about their
aspirations in addition to their current doings: "Welcome to Lime's
Website. I like traveling around the world with my family and friends.
I also like playing basketball, swimming, dancing, and going to the movies
and the mall with my friends. When I grow up I would like to be an orthodontist."
Although
typing statements on the computer may seem like a rudimentary skill, for
many of the girls this was their first time doing so. Locating the appropriate
key to present one's self was seen as a stepping-stone to the more challenging
task of learning how to present the information on their personal websites.
Both activities seem to be pleasurable for the girls. They enjoy seeing
their words - whether they are spelled correctly or not - appear on the
screen. Giggles of delight are often heard over the music. Even more pleasurable
is learning how to change the briefly written text's font, color, background,
and images surrounding the text. Statements such as, "I did that!"
echo throughout the room. This sense of prideful ownership seems to develop
as the girls' technological knowledge increases. They find pride not in
mastering the keyboard and writing more thoughtful accounts at a faster
pace, rather they find satisfaction in manipulating the brief statements
into a presentation style they believe "looks good." Emphasizing
the text's aesthetic quality instead of its content also reoccurs during
more thought-provoking technology activities.
Even when
Fisher (2003) asks the girls to evaluate websites, their responses remain
void of lengthy, analytical statements. Like the text for their webpages,
the girls focus their energy on changing their evaluative comments' font
color, size, and shape. This is "fun" for the girls because
creating (and reading lengthy) text is too closely related to schoolwork,
in their minds. Their aversion to using technology as an academic tool
to record critical comments, does not mean they lack critical thought.
As their technological skills advance, they use computers to convey their
critical thinking in more dynamic ways than protracted text allows.
Once the
girls select and upload pictures of themselves, they also learn how to
digitally manipulate the images in the computer. Options include changing
one's hair color, length, and style. Other options include changing the
lightness and darkness of an individual's complexion, and changing the
color of a girl's outfit, as well as changing a girl's body size. Surprisingly,
all of the girls lengthen their digital hair. Even those girls whose hair
is rather long extend their digital hair far past its real-time length.
Most girls include braids to accomplish this feat, even if they already
have braids in the picture. None of the girls change their hair color.
In addition, many of the girls make their complexion lighter that it is
in real-time. Even if the change creates an unnatural hue, they argue
that, "I think I look better like that." Finally, a few of the
girls make themselves seem thinner in the digital picture. Reducing their
waist, arms, and legs is also a way to "look good" on their
pages. Paradoxically, one of the most popular grrrl games for this group
was "Feed the Model." In an effort to inform girls about the
dangers of anorexia and bulimia, an emaciated White female image floats
across the screen. The object of the game is to throw pieces of food at
her mouth causing the model to gain what the player believes is an acceptable
weight. Included in the game are pages of written text about eating disorders.
Most of the girls avoided reading the information in order to restart
the game.
While academic and informational texts are of little interest to the girls, importing language behaviors from their real-time conversations and putting them in text messages becomes a sort of game. Knowing that Fisher sees their comments does little to dissuade the girls from finding new ways to manipulate computer talk. Since this is the first time most of the girls can communicate in the virtual world, they take great pains to create a culturally unique language that maintains their identity. Irrespective of academic prowess, all girls participate in this language construction. One of the school's valedictorians during a chat room session inserts her Jamaican self in the conversation and writes, "Mi a chat Jamaican." A respondent encourages Aniah's expressiveness using her own coded language, "U GO ANIAH IM REALLY FEELIN U FAM. U GO AHEAD & SPEAK OUT." Words such as "everything" become "erthang" and inquiring about a girl's well-being is written "How u b."
Discussion
Fisher's
(2003) findings of the girls' behaviors during the technology camp are
admittedly slim in comparison to mine. The amount of time we both spent
with the girls explains the difference. More work needs to be done for
an extended period of time to examine how this group interacts with technology.
It would also have been helpful if all the individuals from the original
set of girls participated in the study. Despite these issues, what the
girls import from their real-time peer cultures sheds light on their understanding
of Black femaleness and how technology can assist or disturb their developing
consciousness.
In real-time, group conflict is an affront to the entire group and members
seek relative harmony quickly. Similar to the working-class African American
girls in Goodwin's (1990) study, the Leafview girls also actively confront
each other, using elaborate language behaviors to approach an accused
individual. The collectivity plays a prominent role in creating a peer
structure that allows for open communication, individuality, and empowerment.
In the virtual world computers afford, these features assume a slightly
different look.
Typically,
technology encourages individual work rather than collaboration. However,
the Leafview sixth-grade girls find unique ways to collaborate with each
other. Some literature indicates that girls prefer to use technology as
a communicative tool over boys (Colley & Comber, 2003). Data from
this study supports this observation. The Leafview girls learn to cobble
together various technological elements (IM, music, chat rooms, and the
bulletin board) simultaneously to encourage communication and maintain
a group connectedness. Learning to operate and manipulate technology is
a characteristic typically reserved to describe boys and computers. Instead,
the Leafview girls assume these behavior traits in an effort to create
space for their valued Black female network.
In the technological
context, the multifaceted Black female self creates a location to voice
the diverse angles of her self. The standpoint of the girls, with all
of their complexities and critiques, are first noted in real-time. The
hope-filled but realistic attitudes further shape the contours of the
culture sharing real-time group. As the onslaught of sociopolitical critiques
attack their consciousness, they still maintain high motivation to succeed.
Much like the students in O'Connor's (1997) study, the Leafview girls
use the public perceptions of their deficiencies to continue their struggle.
Whether they maintain these dispositions depends on if the girls continue
to be "privy to social behavior and discourses that affirm[ed] the
need to struggle and its potential to produce desired change" (p.
622). In my longitudinal study, I am exploring how their aspirations change
over time, place, and in response to particular observed behaviors and
discourses.
Basketball
player, dancer, party organizer, and/or prospective judge, the peer culture
embraces all. The "multiple ingredients" Lorde (1984) describes
as constituting Black female identity is evidently nurtured among the
girls. The peer group publicly praises the individual and her distinct
talents, even if she may possess very few. Similar to Horvat and Lewis'
(2003) study, the Leafview groups find peers who admire their social and/or
academic abilities while still maintaining a strong Black female identity.
In such an empowered environment, I assumed the girls would celebrate
Black femaleness for better or worse. Data from the technology camp challenge
my naiveté.
As the girls
manage to control the technology in ways that seem to promote safe spaces,
they also seem to be controlled by anti-Black-female images. An interesting
tension evolves. The technology becomes a means to express and modify
the self. This could be seen as empowering in its own right, yet changing
their body images reflects a failed attempt to struggle against adopting
the mainstream beauty standard.
Recent research
does suggest, however, many African American women resist mainstream beauty
standards and value their aesthetic (Chin Evans & McConnell, 2003).
In addition, Makkar and Strube (1995) indicate for African American women
who have high self-esteem or nurture their self-consciousness as Black
women, exposure to the White beauty standard does not lower their self-perception.
Perhaps part of the Leafview girls' journey to self-definition is learning
how to critique and reject the controlling images of beauty. Nevertheless,
studies are demonstrating that with continued exposure to the beauty standard,
more African American girls and women are developing eating disorders
than previously assumed (Cachelin et al., 2000; Williamson, 1998). More
work needs to be done in this area of eating disorders and how they may
appear at different times and among various contexts for African American
girls. In my longitudinal study of the girls, how they construct perceptions
of their body image over time is one focus. What can be said at this point,
however, is that parents and educators of African American girls need
to heighten their sensitivity to what the girls view and how they evaluate
these representations, and critical discussion of the images should be
encouraged. Stated differently, the Leafview girls need more guidance
as they progress through their trajectories of self-definition. Technology
could be a powerful tool for the journey. Unfortunately, the technological
choices for African American girls do little of this emancipatory work.
The girls'
relationship with technology provides further troubling possibilities.
Their avoidance of reading both academic and/or informational text is
not commiserate with their need to create text. Notwithstanding this observation,
efforts to create and maintain their own language in virtual space are
noteworthy. These girls activate their empowered selves to do what many
adolescent chat room users do - innovatively changing the rules of literacy
through technology (Merchant, 2001). For these girls, their age, race,
and gender inform this process of self-definition. At the same time, their
voice - both verbal and nonverbal expressiveness - is often inconsistent.
High aspirations alone do not guarantee success. Many African American
students have high aspirations that do not correlate with their academic
effort or achievement (Cokely, 2003; Ogbu, 2003). In the technology camp,
the girls are not demonstrating the necessary behaviors to attain many
of their goals. The girls' refusal to write lengthy, critical statements
in spite of having a clear ability to verbalize critical thought suggests
that they fail to see technology's intellectual benefits. This lack of
connection may be a result of their district's status. All lessons learned
in the technology camp remain in isolation from their school curriculum.
Without computers and personnel to reinforce the summer activities, the
skills hold little intellectual or academic merit. The social benefits
far outweigh the intellectual advantages.
For the girls,
technology is a useful tool to express one's self in a multitude of ways.
Technology provides the girls a similar level of social control, as manifested
in their peer interactions. As a consequence, educators and administrators
may do well to recognize the salient role technology can play in the social
development of African American girls. Interactive lessons, working in
teams, and culturally relevant software that links academics with the
social development of African American girls need to become integral parts
of classroom technology. This may require that instructors use computers
as the hook to increasing girls' intellectual capabilities - that is,
seamlessly including activities that are "fun" and seemingly
nonacademic when in reality they can serve an academic or otherwise practical
purpose. However, this may be difficult to accomplish in districts like
Leafview, since the more African American students within a district,
the fewer computers the district typically possess (Hess & Leal, 2001).
Thus, universities may want to work with under-resourced districts to
provide sustained and culturally meaningful opportunities for students.
Data from
this study can direct educational scholars and practitioners to expand
their vision of technology and its use in low-income, African American
students' lives, however more thought needs to be given to how technology
can further coalesce positive peer interactions. It is insufficient to
merely introduce more computers into low-income districts such as Leafview,
without using them in collaboration with positive cultural norms and mores
that already promote success. This requires, however, that scholars expend
more energy identifying behaviors that encourage accomplishments among
low-income urban students. Too often, research focuses on the acts and
interactions that nurture the oppositional behavior Ogbu (1989, 1990)
and Fordham (1988, 1996) detail. A more complex approach that is sensitive
to the effects of gender, social class, region, and other features that
signify particular social meanings, may illuminate some of the dispositions
that are associated with success, but are rarely affiliated with low-income
African American populations.
Once software
designers recognize the potentiality of the African American girl audience,
they need to consider these technology-users along race, gender, and social
class divisions. More attention needs to be paid to what the girls need,
want, and already possess as African American females navigating the hierarchical
system of our society. Software designers need to create a dialogical
space in which African American girls can continue the self-defining process
integral to their development. Why not create software shaped by Black
feminist pedagogy? Such software could "raise the political consciousness
by introducing a worldview with an Afrocentric orientation to reality,
and the inclusion of gender and patriarchy as central to an understanding
of all historical phenomena…Black feminist pedagogy embodies a philosophy
that is a philosophy of liberation" (Joseph, 1995, p. 465). Software
that embodies this radical construct may be more appealing to African
American girls and encourage them to read about eating disorders rather
than merely "Feed[ing] the Model." At the least, Black feminist
software should aim to teach all girls - Black girls in particular - how
to detect and challenge the hegemonic attempts that otherize Black girls
against a backdrop of White female beauty. Encouraging girls to define
themselves in a multitude of ways other than gauging their proximity to
the standard of beauty needs to be at the core of Black Feminist grrrl
software.
In the end, the girls are an extraordinary group. Their behaviors and beliefs demonstrate many of the concepts presented by Black Feminist theorists about Black women. That their developing consciousnesses are acutely aware of societal barriers is part of the journey. However, they seem to accept the potential impediments without much fanfare. What seems to be another equally potent barrier is the social influence of beauty for the Black female. Technology plays a pivotal role in their lives. While empowering, unless modifications are made, it may also prove to be another debilitative tool attempting to prevent holistic African American female self-development.
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Endnotes
1 - The study was conducted by Fisher (2003).back
2 - All names have been changed. back
3 - In addition to these procedures, I also individually interviewed the girls' sixth-grade teachers. Semi-structured questions involved the teachers providing their assessment of the students' current academic achievement and prognosis. I also interviewed a portion of the girls' parents. All participants, students, teachers, and parents completed a survey assessing the girls' social skills. For the purposes of this article, however, I only include data drawn from the observations and focus group interviews. See Scott (2003) for more details on other procedures. back
4 - See Scott, Avolin, & McVea (2003) for further discussion. back
5 - Ironically, I included this quote verbatim in an article that appeared in one of the "guilty" newspapers. back
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