Girls, Feminism, and Grassroots Literacies: Activism in the GirlZone (review)

Attending to the history of children and youth requires more than simply paying attention to individuals. Scholars must also examine the institutions within and through which those individuals live, work, play, organize, create, and find meaning. Mary Sheridan-Rabideau's book Girls, Feminism, and Grassroots Literacies is an ethnographic investigation of this sort, exploring the institutional history of one midwestern grassroots feminist organization, GirlZone. By describing the participants, activities, texts, and history of GirlZone, Sheridan-Rabideau has succeeded in providing a "case study for feminists, grassroots activists, and cultural critics [that considers] how girls and girl culture have become cultural flash points, reflecting both societal and particularly feminist anxieties about and hopes for the future" (p. 2). Although not without flaws, her book is an engaging and important look at a type of grassroots educational organization that is too often ignored by researchers in fields such as history and education.

The book is divided into two parts, "Setting the Scene" and "Literacy in Action: Complicating Feminist Designs" and a final "Coda: Success and Sustainability." Chapter one begins with very brief glimpse into the world of GirlZone before outlining the larger project and establishing theoretical frames of literacy and feminism that contextualize the study. Chapter two departs from theoretical contextualization and moves to an historical perspective as the author describes activist movements in the 1990s. This chapter includes discussion of the GirlZone's organizational history as well as the histories of key participants, including the author. Chapter three illustrates how representations of girl culture informed second- and third-wave feminist activism with, about, and on behalf of girls at a national and international level. Such was the type of activism that gave birth to GirlZone. These two chapters likely will be of particular interest for readers of JHCY.

Chapter four begins the second part of the book. It examines the enabling and constraining effects second-wave feminists had on emerging third-wave activism within GirlZone and the ways those led to conflicts between (adult) organizers' and (girl/youth) participants' ideas about what constituted feminist activities and activism. The data discussed include the founding documents of GirlZone, the development of a logo for one of GirlZone's events, and whether or not the organization should host a fashion show event. Chapter five examines the interactions between cultural models and youth identities and takes a closer look at the pedagogies different facilitators employed when working with GirlZone participants in a biweekly radio program called RadioGirl. The author argues that rather than trying to change girls' awareness or teach them to identify as feminist, a feminist pedagogy for young girls should encourage them to be "competent social actors" in a wide variety of activities, no matter what label(s) they choose to take up in regards to such participation. Chapter six explores the constraints and possibilities of such a pedagogy in further detail, using the design of a logo for an annual GirlZone activity as an example of how organizers and participants drew on and redesigned "image stores" from youth culture. Chapter seven turns its attention to the founder of GirlZone. Sheridan-Rabideau documents decisions the founder made about how to represent GirlZone in the initial and final grant proposals in the organization's history. She then traces how the representations of GirlZone and girlhood established within these documents circulated within the organization's history.

Girls, Feminism, and Grassroots Literacies has many good qualities. Methodologically, it is an ethnography in the best sense of the term; it provides a theoretically informed thick description of a particular case that is analyzed and contextualized in ways that can be applied to other situations. Sheridan-Rabideau's passion and positioning are both clear strengths of this project. Because the author was a volunteer with the organization she describes as well as a researcher, the ethnography is a product of close, consistent, and long-term engagement. She acknowledges her positioning clearly and draws...