Abstract
In this essay I examine how popular/public culture depicts African-American girlhood and adolescence. Primarily using a hip hop generation feminist theoretical framework, I discuss both the limitations and progressive possibilities of popular visual culture in representing African-American girlhood and adolescence. The essay moves from a discussion of a video that highlights the disempowering possibilities of mass, digital, and social media for black girls and adolescents to a discussion of two videos propelled by a black girl-centered discourse of empowerment. Each of the videos discussed offers insight into the lived experiences of African-American girls from historical, aesthetic, and expressive perspectives. I use visual media text analysis, hip hop generation feminist theory, and social and cultural theory to discuss how these videos contribute to the formation of a contemporary discourse of empowerment for black girls and adolescents. Ultimately, I assert the importance of popular/public culture for empowering black girls and adolescents, while acknowledging extant limitations and obstacles in mass, digital, and social media.
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Lindsey, T.B. “One Time for My Girls”: African-American Girlhood, Empowerment, and Popular Visual Culture. J Afr Am St 17, 22–34 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-012-9217-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-012-9217-2