Doctoral Dissertation Research: Girltalk: Adolescent Girls, Friendships, and the Making of Identities

在Sally McConnell-Ginet博士的指导下，Tanya L. Matthews女士将在盐湖城地区的一所高中进行实地考察。她将单独或分组采访女孩，请她们谈谈她们的友谊以及她们对高中生社会群体和类别的看法。访谈将被记录下来，以供日后转录和分析。分析将集中在分类实践上，包括社会标签（例如，瘾君子，Poly[太平洋岛民]，Molly Mormon）和对他人和自我标签的态度。随着最近的新移民浪潮和大量摩门教徒人口的长期传统，盐湖城是一个有趣的地区，可以探索青春期女孩发展身份和社会网络中种族和宗教信仰的复杂关系。女孩的社会关系和分裂也与更广泛研究的男孩的社会关系形成了鲜明的对比，突出了许多经常被忽视的冲突。本研究以“女孩视角”看待高中的制度安排，这些制度安排约束和促进了特定的社会分工和联系模式。它还应增进对影响教育环境的社会紧张局势的了解。在研究结束时，马修斯女士将回到盐湖城，为教师和学校管理人员举办关于她的发现的研讨会。

Under the direction of Dr. Sally McConnell-Ginet, Ms. Tanya L. Matthews will conduct fieldwork in a Salt Lake City area high school. She will interview girls individually and in groups, asking them to talk about their friendships and their views of social groupings and categories among the high school students. The interviews will be recorded for later transcription and analysis. Analysis will focus on categorizing practices, including social labels (e.g., stoner, Poly [Pacific Islander], Molly Mormon) and attitudes towards labeling of others and self. With recent waves of new immigration and a long tradition of a large Mormon-identified population, Salt Lake City is an interesting area for exploring the complex relation of ethnic and religious affiliations in adolescent girls' developing identities and social networks. Girls' social affiliations and divisions also offer an illuminating contrast to the more widely studied boys' social relations, highlighting many kinds of conflicts that often go unnoticed. This research gives a "girls'-eye view" of the institutional arrangements in high schools that constrain and promote particular modes of social division and connection. It should also improve understanding of social tensions that affect the educational environment. At the end of the research period, Ms. Matthews will return to Salt Lake City to conduct workshops on her findings for teachers and school administrators.