INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. 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Viswanath, Co-Adviser School of Journalism and Dr. Patricia Enciso Communication UMI Number: 3022590 Copyright 2001 by Tracy, Pamela Jean All rights reserved. UMI^ UMI Microform 3022590 Copyright 2001 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Com pany 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Copyright by Pamela Jean Tracy 2001 ABSTRACT Popular music is omnipresent and integral to pre-teen girls' everyday lives. In their engagements with popular music, they appropriate these commodities < — > practices as local resources for expressing and performing group and individual identity identities, for negotiating gendered and racial relationships, for building and communicating literacies, and for making connections among a variety of social and ideological discourses. This dissertation study is an exploratory investigation into pre- teen girls' popular music experiences particularly as these experiences relate to and take place within the context of their everyday lives in school. Using ethnographic methods such as interviewing and participant observation at an urban elementary school, I explored how pre-teen girls engaged with popular music, how their engagements impacted identity construction, and how their interactions with and interpretations of music are embedded in their everyday lives. Findings indicate that studying children and media requires careful attention to reflecting on and understanding the significance of children and researcher's performances of identity. In particular, my experiences with "playing girl" raised critical questions concerning the role of the researcher as social and critical actor. These experiences made present the difficulties of practicing cultural studies in the field. 11 highlighting the importance of recognizing that theory realized in research practices will influence and be influenced by the activities and relationships-in-process in the field Popular music is made present when the Central girls listen during lunchtime, when they talk about it in their classroom, when they are singing and dancing during recess when they music is not placing, and when they use their interpretations of music to bolster and/or create assumptions about self < ~ > other. Findings illustrated that when and where they listened to music was always dependent on their needs, their readings of the appropriateness of engaging with the genre, who they were with, and what else was going on around them. How often they hstened to their music was connected to where they were, who they were with, and whether or not they had access to the music. In addition how they listened to music and for what purposes all varied dependent on these factors as well. When the Central girls talked about popular music, sang and danced in the lunchroom and on the playground, they communicated not only pleasure, but also their racial < > gendered < ~ > age-related identities. During these performances, the girls constructed a sense of self < ~ > other that was shifting and sometimes contingent on contextual conditions, their understandings of sociocultural relationships, and their interpretation of what it means to be "me." The most prevalent identity performances were "acting your age," "acting your color," and "gendered allegiances." Their identity performances disrupted genre—identity fusion; communicated the importance of understanding identity as process; demonstrated their socioculural literacies, and created space for self-expression and group cohesion. Ill The Central girls' engagements with popular music are learning experiences that serve as a means to communicate and build on particular social and ideological understandings of identities, learning, and their sense of place in their social and official school worlds. They draw on a variety of discourses to make sense of their popular music experiences. In doing so, the girls develop literacies and deliberately and sometimes inadvertently communicate knowledge about sociocultural relations— knowledge that informs their day to day lives. In particular, they communicate through this meaning construction process understandings about 1) racial distinctions, 2) gendered roles, and 3) what is considered legitimate knowledge. The impact of popular music in their lives is mediated and conceived through the interaction between the music, the girls' interpretations of the text, their experiences in relationship to these interpretations, and the sociocultural and structural relations that permeate their lives. I argue that we can learn from these constructions how girls navigate through several versions of what is means to be a girl, what is means to belong to a particular racial group, and what it means to engage with and find pleasure in popular music. IV Dedicated to my husband, Steve ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank all of the students and teachers at Central Alternative (I would, of course, like to acknowledge all of you by your real names, but protecting your privacy is essential) who gave me the opportunity to sit in your classrooms, jump rope in your dance classes, and sing and dance in your lunchroom. I am forever grateful to the Central girls for your honesty, trust, and willingness to let me witness and leam about your experiences. A special thanks, to Mary, the girl's teacher, for your patience and generosity in opening up your classroom and your pedagogy. In my seven years at Ohio State and in Columbus, OH, I have had the opportunity to meet and work with many people, and I am grateful for the ways that everyone has touched my life. 1 would like to thank my advisers. Dr. K. Vishwanath and Dr. Felecia Ross for their willingness to participate in this project. Dr. Ross thank you for the "does this make sense" sessions and your insights. Vish, thank you for gently nudging me to set deadlines and to push for clarity in my writing and thinking. Your faith in this project and in my abilities has been invaluable. Pat Enciso, I am so happy that our paths crossed. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in your research and for helping me to develop my own project. Your generous guidance and encouragement has helped me to trust my own process and has challenged me to consider different ways of seeing. VI reading, and being. Amy Shuman, thank you for your intellectual guidance and for your insights into this project. I have also had the opportunity to work with many faculty members who have offered intellectual wisdom along the way. I would like to thank Dr. Dale Brashers, Dr. Brenda Dervin, Dr. Mary Margaret Fonow, Dr. Sonja Foss, Dr. Mary Garrett, and Dr. Joe Pilotta. Thank you, Grace Rees and Marcia Sweet for your fabulous transcriptions. I have been blessed with many special friends whose courage and ever-present support has been a source of strength and comfort during this process—and, in my life. Thank you, Sharon Varallo; my sister, Peggy Bell; Linda Cardillo; Deb McGee, and Patty Marsden for reminding me of the significance of our work and the importance of staying connected to the ones we love. Cris Lopez, Kellie Hay, Alison Coleman, and Marie Garland your dedication to your own work was a source of inspiration, thank you. WTiile we started as a "dissertation support group" and developed into a "theatre and dinner group," your presence in my life has been so important—thank you Deb Hoover, Sakile Camara, Sally Nemeth, and Linda Cardillo. I would also like to thank Laura Hahn, Debian Marty, Linda Dobbs, Stephen Haas, Brian McGee, Rebecca Dingo, and Kristin Risley. I would like to thank the entire old Candle Shoppe family for keeping me sane and for opening your hearts and families to all of us. Jill Dick, Kathy Larkins, Kim Lawrence, Teresa Millard, Mary Beth Huffrnan, Darlene Rader, and Joe Hillsman—The Margarita Nights, Friday breakfasts at Bob Evans, and your special kindness and support for my work and for Steve, Keillor, and me have made all the difference in our lives. vu Mom and dad, from the first day at 7-Eleven at the University of Southern Maine I have felt your unconditional support for what turned out to be a longer journey than expected.