"And that's what I think being an American girl is all about!": girls' reflections on American Girl and contemporary American girlhood

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Medina, Veronica E.
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	In this project, I analyze 289 essays submitted to the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City (TMM) as part of their 2007 “What Does it Mean to be an American Girl?” exhibit. Inspired by-and anchored with-the fictional protagonists of the wildly popular American Girls Collection, the exhibit “celebrate[d] the spirit of girlhood in America” through its displays, living history events, and of primary significance for this dissertation, an essay contest seeking answers to the titular question from modern-day girls and women. Although girls, especially those between the ages of 7 and 12, are the target audience for American Girl dolls, stories, and merchandise, their perspectives about the meaning and influence American Girl has in and on their daily lives are largely absent from existing scholarly research. With some notable exceptions (Acosta-Alzuru and Kreshel 2002; Nardone 2002; Diamond et al 2009; and Marshall 2009), the vast majority of research on American Girl relies on and theorizes from analyses of texts that American Girl itself produces. By integrating and privileging the voices of American Girl's target audience, my analysis seeks to determine if, and to what extent, their readings
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
DOI	10.32469/10355/15888
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/15888/research.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=2
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/15888/short.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=3
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.32469/10355%2F15888
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article