The Everyday Nature of Pre-teen Girls’ Lives

Abstract

For these pre-teen girls the desire to be ‘liked, respected, and valued’ by their peers was evident (Hamm and Faircloth 2005). While well versed in the practices required of them the girls negotiations of friendship and belonging were intricate and highly nuanced. As I discovered the key to understanding the girls’ negotiations of belonging was to recognise the complex meaning making in their ordinary, everyday actions, practices and behaviours. My observations were vital as practices which I described as ordinary and everyday were demonstrated constantly throughout the year. As I discovered there were often highly nuanced meanings behind the girls’ everyday practices. In this chapter I consider how the girls negotiated their ‘economy of dignity’ (Pugh 2009) within their distinctive friendship cultures and desire to belong. These pre-teen girls demonstrate an advanced competence in their negotiations that belies their age. The fear of exclusion, fragility of friendships and value of their cross-gender friendships reveal the complex, constant and everyday work that goes into pre-teen girls’ considerations and negotiations of belonging.