Colonizing Girls: The Politics of Female Bullying and Violence in Hawai‘i

• In Event: Victimization and Bullying in Schools

Abstract

Thanks to the scientific discovery of female bullying and aggression (see Crick & Grotpeter, 1995) in the 1990s, the idea that girls, as well as boys, bully and torment their peers has become increasingly entrenched in the public imagination. When news of girls’ increasing arrest rates for violence made headlines in the 1990s, the notion that girls were achieving a violent brand of equality with boys gained even more traction. What is missing among much of the research on aggressive and violent girls is an analysis of the larger power arrangements surrounding girls who lash out against and hurt others. Using data from a ten-year ethnographic study of girls’ violence in Hawai‘i, we found that girls’ hurtful behaviors were responses to complicated intersecting inequalities. Looking deeply at historic power arrangements, we argue that Western imperial intrusion in the Pacific introduced legacies such as Western modes of patriarchy, a rigid racial caste system, and an exploitative capitalist economic system that left Asian and Pacific Island girls with few opportunities. Standing up for themselves and striking out were some of the resources left to girls who faced-off against multiple contingencies.

Authors

• Sanna King, University of Hawaii, Mānoa

• Katherine Irwin, University of Hawaii, Manoa