Creating Third Space Physical Culture for, With, and About Recent Immigrant Girls on Instagram

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: At the Intersection of Race and Gender: New Horizons in Educational Research

Abstract

Recent reports have indicated that recent immigrant minority (RIM) girls are the least physically active in the U.S. and are categorized as “bodies-at-risk” for obesity and other health issues. Driven by neoliberal globalization, dominant discourses of girls’ “at-risk” position them as "others”. This study thus explored how Instagram served as a public pedagogical space in which the girls co-constructed and shared their physical culture. Preliminary results indicated that 1) the use of Instagram served as an empowering pedagogical space to reveal various ways in which RIM girls embodied and expressed an active and moving body and 2) the participants viewed Instagram as a supportive and safe socio-educational space that enabled them to express and expand their understanding of physical cultures.

Authors

• Ji hyeon Lee, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Laura Azzarito, Columbia University

• Ioana Literat, Teachers College, Columbia University