"Who's the Beautifulest?" Exploring Preschool Discourses Surrounding Issues of Beauty and Color

• In Event: Early Childhood Social Issues

Abstract

Drawing on membership categorization analysis and multimodal discourse analysis, this study illuminates how six preschool students conducted complex identity work through their everyday interactions. The preschool lunchtime interaction analyzed in this paper demonstrates how daily encounters aid in the formulation of preschool student identities, specifically those related to skin color and beauty. Students employed various discourse techniques to compare and contrast their physical appearance in effort to define “Who is the beautifulest?”. This paper aims to address (a) how issues of diversity and difference are of concern to these preschool children, (b) how they use categorization practices to make issues of diversity and difference relevant and visible, and (c) how they manage categorizations such as skin color and beauty.

Authors

• Megan Troxel, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Arizona State University

• Katie Bernstein, Arizona State University