On My Honor: Thinking and Living Girl Scouts Differently in (Post)Colonial Hawai'i

• In Event: 60.073 - Women and Race in Hawai'i: Educational Enactments and New Possibilities

Abstract

In 1917, five years after Girl Scouting was founded, the first Girl Scout troop was started in Hawai`i. The implicit aim, as in communities of color across the United States, was to acculturate the daughters of indigenous and immigrant parents into American culture by disciplining the girls into the performance of Americanness while dissociating them from their former ethnic identities (Hahner, 2008).
Nearly a century later, we, a Filipino American and Native Hawaiian professor specializing in indigenous, social justice and multicultural education, accepted an invitation to start a Girls Scout troop of our own, with our daughters as members.
Drawing from Deleuze’s (2004) concept of differenciation or the process by which “things become different” or “evolve and continue to evolve beyond the boundaries of the sets they have been distributed into” (Williams, 2003, p. 60), this paper chronicles our attempt, with other feminist mothers of color, to provide our daughters with a space to “think and live differently” (Greene, 2013) as Girls Scouts and young women of color in (post)colonial Hawai‘i.
Of the Girls Scouts national membership, 66% of the girls and 76% of the adults are White. Correspondingly, most Girl Scouts research focuses on how these predominately White girls experience leadership development. There is a dearth of research on the intersections of gender, race/ethnicity and leadership in Girl Scouts. Furthermore, little focuses on Girl Scout mothers, who are the primary leaders and facilitators of their daughters’ experiences. In this study, we explore how mothers of color rethink and relive Girl Scouts differently in Hawai‘i.
• What is our vision of Girl Scouts for our daughters?
• How do we reshape Girl Scouts to emancipate ourselves from sexism and racism?
• How do our identities influence the Girl Scouts curriculum?
This qualitative study explores the experiences of eight Girl Scout mothers of color through self-reflection and a focus group interview. Mothers are asked for their initial perceptions of Girl Scouts, vision and why and how the troop was formed. They discuss how they re-shaped and co-created the Girl Scouts structure and curriculum. Finally, they reflect on how their identities as professional women of color influenced the Girls Scout curriculum and likewise how it influenced them.
The transcribed focus group interview will be the primary source of data. Secondary data sources include Girl Scout organization documents and meeting/planning notes collected over five years as our daughters moved through the Daisy, Brownie and Junior Girl Scout levels.
Women of color often feel marginalized by the American feminist movement, further perpetuating a rift between their daughters and the movement. They criticize the movement for being too white and overlooking the intersections of race, class and gender. This paper serves as an example of how women of color can resist such marginalization by actively participating in the largest girl organization, Girl Scouts. By examining these mothers’ experiences in rethinking and reliving Girl Scouts, we can imagine how to support the development of mothers and daughters as leaders who truly make a difference in all of America’s communities.

Authors

• Patricia E. Halagao, University of Hawaii - Manoa

• Julie L. Kaomea, University of Hawaii - Manoa