Clever Girls : Autoethnographies of Class, Gender and Ethnicity

This collection by three generations of women from predominantly working-class backgrounds explores the production of the classed, gendered and racialized subject with powerful, engaging, funny and moving stories of transitions through family relationships, education, friendships and work. The developments that take place across a life in processes of ‘becoming’ are examined through the fifteen autoethnographies that form the core of the book, set within an elaboration of the social, educational and geo-political developments that constitute the backdrop to contributors’ lives. __Clever Girls__ discusses the status of personal experience as ‘research data’ and the memory work that goes into the making of autoethnography-as-poiesis. The collection illustrates the huge potential of autoethnography as research method, mode of inquiry and creative practice to illuminate the specificities and commonalities of experiences of growing up as ‘clever girls’ and to sound a ‘call to action’ against inequality and discrimination. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxv Introduction (Jackie Goode)....Pages 1-16 The Classed, Gendered and Racialised Subject (Jackie Goode)....Pages 17-46 On Autoethnography (Jackie Goode)....Pages 47-70 On Be(com)ing Clever (Liz Thomas)....Pages 71-87 Too Clever by Half (Jackie Goode)....Pages 89-113 Common Ground (Nell Farrell)....Pages 115-123 From “Too Womanish, Girl!” to Clever Womanish Woman (Christa Welsh)....Pages 125-143 “I stand with them” ... United and Secure (Melanie Reynolds)....Pages 145-163 Things You Wouldn’t Say to Your Daughter (Panya Banjoko)....Pages 165-180 Being the One Good Thing (Sarah Ward)....Pages 181-192 Between a Rock and a Hard Place (Jan Bradford)....Pages 193-214 ‘Must Try Harder’: Anxiety, Self-Shaping and Structures of Feeling, Then and Now (Tracey Loughran)....Pages 215-236 Single Indian Woman; Very Accomplished but Can’t Make Round Chapatis (Meena Rajput)....Pages 237-255 “But you’re not really foreign”: An Autoethnography of a Working-Class Canadian “Passing” in England (Kristin O’Donnell)....Pages 257-270 ‘Untitled’ (Motsabi Rooper)....Pages 271-283 ‘Is this yours? ... Did you write this?’ (Victoria Adukwei Bulley)....Pages 285-289 A Letter to My Younger Self (Claire Mitchell)....Pages 291-297 Fractured Lives and Border Crossings (Emily Green)....Pages 299-312 Clever Girls in Conversation (Jackie Goode)....Pages 313-336 Conclusion (Jackie Goode)....Pages 337-356 Back Matter ....Pages 357-359 Winner of the Working-Class Studies Association's "Jake Ryan and Charles Sackrey Award for a Book about the Working-Class Academic Experience" This collection by three generations of women from predominantly working-class backgrounds explores the production of the classed, gendered and racialized subject with powerful, engaging, funny and moving stories of transitions through family relationships, education, friendships and work. The developments that take place across a life in processes of 'becoming' are examined through the fifteen autoethnographies that form the core of the book, set within an elaboration of the social, educational and geo-political developments that constitute the backdrop to contributors' lives. Clever Girls discusses the status of personal experience as 'research data' and the memory work that goes into the making of autoethnography-as-poiesis. The collection illustrates the huge potential of autoethnography as research method, mode of inquiry and creative practice to illuminate the specificities and commonalities of experiences of growing up as 'clever girls' and to sound a 'call to action' against inequality and discrimination. This collection by three generations of women from predominantly working-class backgrounds explores the production of the classed, gendered and racialized subject with powerful, engaging, funny and moving stories of transitions through family relationships, education, friendships and work. The developments that take place across a life in processes of 'becoming' are examined through the fifteen autoethnographies that form the core of the book, set within an elaboration of the social, educational and geo-political developments that constitute the backdrop to contributors' lives. Clever Girls discusses the status of personal experience as 'research data' and the memory work that goes into the making of autoethnography-as-poiesis. The collection illustrates the huge potential of autoethnography as research method, mode of inquiry and creative practice to illuminate the specificities and commonalities of experiences of growing up as 'clever girls' and to sound a 'call to action' against inequality and discrimination. Jackie Goode is Visiting Fellow in Qualitative Research in the School of Social Sciences, Loughborough University, UK. This collection by three generations of women from predominantly working-class backgrounds explores the production of the classed, gendered and racialized subject with powerful, engaging, funny and moving stories of transitions through family relationships, education, friendships and work. The developments that take place across a life in processes of ‘becoming’ are examined through the fifteen autoethnographies that form the core of the book, set within an elaboration of the social, educational and geo-political developments that constitute the backdrop to contributors’ lives. Clever Girls discusses the status of personal experience as ‘research data’ and the memory work that goes into the making of autoethnography-as-poiesis. The collection illustrates the huge potential of autoethnography as research method, mode of inquiry and creative practice to illuminate the specificities and commonalities of experiences of growing up as ‘clever girls’ and to sound a ‘call to action’ against inequality and discrimination. $c --From publisher's description