Barbie Play and Public Pedagogy of Abjection

The iconic Barbie doll and young girls’ Barbie play, in particular, is an ambiguous site where the distinctions between Barbie as a normative gendered object and girls’ subjective desiring and fantasizing through the doll play, collide in an act of abjection. Using Julia Kristeva’s (1982) feminist theory of abjection, we substantiate our argument with two ethnographic cases of preadolescent girls’ transgressive Barbie play, which includes homosexual enactment, gender bending, and violent acts. We analyze these acts as replacing the dominant symbolic order, or what Kristeva calls the Law of the Father, with the maternal, affective, (pre)symbolic bodily performance. Furthermore, we propose to view young girls’ Barbie play as a form of public pedagogy that offers opportunities for a productive disruption and critique of the hegemonic gender regimes.

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Work Title Barbie Play and Public Pedagogy of Abjection
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Michelle S Bae-Dimitriadis
  2. Olga Ivashkevich
Keyword
  1. Abject play
  2. Abjection
  3. Barbie doll
  4. Barbie play
  5. Girls’ culture
  6. Public pedagogy
  7. Feminist pedagogy
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Visual Culture and Gender
Publication Date September 15, 2018
Related URLs
Deposited July 23, 2023

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Version 1
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  • Created
  • Added MBD_Ivashevich_2018_barbie_pedagogy.pdf
  • Added Creator Michelle S Bae-Dimitriadis
  • Published
  • Updated Keyword, Related URLs Show Changes
    Keyword
    • Abject play, Abjection, Barbie doll, Barbie play, Girls’ culture, Public pedagogy, Feminist pedagogy
    Related URLs
    • http://vcg.emitto.net/index.php/vcg/issue/view/16
  • Added Creator Olga Ivashkevich
  • Updated Description Show Changes
    Description
    • <i>The iconic Barbie doll and young girls’ Barbie play, in particular, is an ambiguous</i><br><i>site where the distinctions between Barbie as a normative gendered object and</i><br><i>girls’ subjective desiring and fantasizing through the doll play, collide in an</i><br><i>act of abjection. Using Julia Kristeva’s (1982) feminist theory of abjection,</i><br><i>we substantiate our argument with two ethnographic cases of preadolescent</i><br><i>girls’ transgressive Barbie play, which includes homosexual enactment, gender</i><br><i>bending, and violent acts. We analyze these acts as replacing the dominant</i><br><i>symbolic order, or what Kristeva calls the Law of the Father, with the maternal,</i><br><i>affective, (pre)symbolic bodily performance. Furthermore, we propose to view</i><br><i>young girls’ Barbie play as a form of public pedagogy that offers opportunities</i><br><i>for a productive disruption and critique of the hegemonic gender regimes.</i>
    • <i>The iconic Barbie doll and young girls’ Barbie play, in particular, is an ambiguous site where the distinctions between Barbie as a normative gendered object and girls’ subjective desiring and fantasizing through the doll play, collide in an act of abjection. Using Julia Kristeva’s (1982) feminist theory of abjection, we substantiate our argument with two ethnographic cases of preadolescent girls’ transgressive Barbie play, which includes homosexual enactment, gender bending, and violent acts. We analyze these acts as replacing the dominant symbolic order, or what Kristeva calls the Law of the Father, with the maternal, affective, (pre)symbolic bodily performance. Furthermore, we propose to view young girls’ Barbie play as a form of public pedagogy that offers opportunities for a productive disruption and critique of the hegemonic gender regimes.
  • Updated