Feminist New Materialism, Girlhood, and the School Ball

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Description

Engaging with feminist new materialism, Toni Ingram reveals the ways in which the school ball (or prom) can be understood as an assemblage of material objects, spaces, practices, ideas and imaginings which contribute to the process of becoming school ball-girl. The ball-girl is not a fixed identity or subject but is an intra-active becoming a dynamic, shifting process where bodies, sexuality and femininities are relationally produced. (Re)conceptualising the school ball-girl as emergent phenomena provides openings for thinking about girls and this schooling practice beyond popular cultural narratives. Building on the social theory of Barad, Bennett, Best, Deleuze and Guattari, this book offers a new perspective on girls, sexuality, gender and schooling, while also exploring the potential of feminist new materialisms for rethinking educational practices and the human subject.

Reviews

This is a remarkable book. It puts new feminist materialist thought to work in expanding our thinking of gender, sexuality and schooling. By examining the school ball-girl, the book charts new directions in thinking about what comes to matter in the material-affective production of bodies, spaces, ideas, feelings, imaginations and much more. Toni Ingram provides an insightful account of the ongoing entanglements of the human and more-than-human forces in understanding the school ball-girl and does so in a highly engaging way that is a delight to read. -- Deevia Bhana, Professor and DSI/NRF South African Research Chair, Gender and Childhood Sexuality School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
This book is the first to conceptualise the school-ball as a vibrant assemblage of material becomings and to offer new possibilities for imagining the ball-girl. It is a must read for those interested in Girlhood, femininities and feminist new materialisms. -- Louisa Allen, Professor of Education, University of Auckand, New Zealand

Author Bio

Toni Ingram is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Aotearoa, New Zealand.