Pop in(to) the bedroom: Popular music in pre-teen girls’ bedroom culture
Author(s)
Baker, SL
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2004
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Drawing on ethnographic research with seven young girls in Adelaide, South Australia, this article examines the centrality of the bedroom in the girls' exploration of popular music and cultural identity. In particular, it explores the popular music practices of two of these girls, nine-year-olds Kate and Rosa, in the space of their bedrooms. I argue that, by way of serious play, the girls enact and represent alternative possibilities in this immediate life space. The hard work in their musical play was not only observed in the process of fieldwork, but was also captured by the girls themselves using still cameras and tape ...
View more >Drawing on ethnographic research with seven young girls in Adelaide, South Australia, this article examines the centrality of the bedroom in the girls' exploration of popular music and cultural identity. In particular, it explores the popular music practices of two of these girls, nine-year-olds Kate and Rosa, in the space of their bedrooms. I argue that, by way of serious play, the girls enact and represent alternative possibilities in this immediate life space. The hard work in their musical play was not only observed in the process of fieldwork, but was also captured by the girls themselves using still cameras and tape recorders provided as part of the research project. The resulting materials from this ethnographic approach highlight that although girls' bedrooms may seem rather ordinary, the musical practices that take place in this experiential space are complex, highly nuanced and far from trivial. As I demonstrate in this article, the girls' play in their bedrooms is accompanied by an underlying seriousness, what Turner calls the 'human seriousness of play'.
View less >
View more >Drawing on ethnographic research with seven young girls in Adelaide, South Australia, this article examines the centrality of the bedroom in the girls' exploration of popular music and cultural identity. In particular, it explores the popular music practices of two of these girls, nine-year-olds Kate and Rosa, in the space of their bedrooms. I argue that, by way of serious play, the girls enact and represent alternative possibilities in this immediate life space. The hard work in their musical play was not only observed in the process of fieldwork, but was also captured by the girls themselves using still cameras and tape recorders provided as part of the research project. The resulting materials from this ethnographic approach highlight that although girls' bedrooms may seem rather ordinary, the musical practices that take place in this experiential space are complex, highly nuanced and far from trivial. As I demonstrate in this article, the girls' play in their bedrooms is accompanied by an underlying seriousness, what Turner calls the 'human seriousness of play'.
View less >
Journal Title
European Journal of Cultural Studies
Volume
7
Issue
1
Publisher URI
Subject
Commercial services
Communication and media studies
Cultural studies