Playing Aggression: Has the “Mean Girl” Found Her Way Into the Preschool Classroom?

• In Event: Theoretical and Discursive Rethinkings in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The ethnographic analysis presented here examines a play theme centered on two four-year-old female children being “sassy girls.” Data was gathered over the course of six months in one preschool classroom by acting as a participant observer, videotaping, audio taping, and conducting formal and informal interviews. The analysis consisted of taking a broad ethnographic view of children’s play themes followed by a focused eight-week theoretical sampling of the sassy girl play routine. Results revealed that the two female children used the sassy girl play routine to explore an emotional theme related to social and physical aggression, appropriating the “mean girl” persona. Implications as related to neo-liberal and post-feminist images will be discussed.

Authors

• Samara D. Madrid, University of Wyoming

• Eleanor Frye, University of Wyoming