A Framework for Black Girl Transitions Across Space and Time: Sint Maarten as a Case Study

The purpose of this project was to examine whether there is a transitional period between Afro-Caribbean girlhood and woman/adulthood that is distinctly different from girlhood and from woman/adulthood. Herein I examine at what point in the lives of Afro-Caribbean girls, do they feel like they have entered adulthood. I also examine what kinds of media the girls find representative of this current stage of their lives. This dissertation is an extension of my master's thesis, which explored the ways in which Afro-Caribbean girls from the island of Sint Maarten narrate, navigate, and negotiate their girlhood experiences. Speaking as a Black woman from Sint Maarten, I affirm that this project is important due to the lack of sociological scholarship surrounding Black girls in the Dutch West Indies. This project utilized a qualitative approach that involved self-selected research participant media and semi-structured audio and video recorded in-depth interviews with 5 out of the 9 girls who originally participated in the master's project. At the time of the interviews presented in this dissertation, the participants were 19 and 20 years old. I developed a transnational Black girlhood feminist framework which I use to analyze and interpret the interview data. This framework draws from and builds upon Black feminist theorizing, girlhood studies, and transnational feminisms. It demonstrates how traditional sociological theory such as life course theory, and studies on emerging adulthood and development do not account for the lives of Black girls from the Caribbean. The data reveal that there is a transitional period between girlhood and womanhood and adulthood, and how the girls experience this period is particular to their own lived experiences. The findings reveal that the overarching themes of this period are "it's complicated," and that the girls are claiming their agency. The research participant media indicate the overarching theme of this period of the girls' lives is what we are coming to know as a "soft girl era". Other primary themes which emerged from this study include attention to and prioritization of self-care, love, and self-affirmations. These data serve as a starting point and experiential reference to understand transitions of Afro-Caribbean girlhood in the Caribbean broadly, and specifically in the Dutch West Indies. Much is left to be explored regarding the life course and transitions Afro-Caribbean girls experience. This research will continue as a longitudinal study where I will continue to engage with the framework I have developed and re-engage with the girls as they continue along their life transitions.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Sociology

Department dc:contributor.department

Sociology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Murrell, Ocqua Gerlyn

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Baldwin, Andrea N.
• Brunsma, David L.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Zare, Bonnie
• Ovink, Sarah

• adulthood
• Afro-Caribbean
• Black girl
• girlhood
• Sint Maarten
• temporality
• transitions
• transnational
• womanhood

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:38187

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115491