From Being Figured to Figuring the World: Identity Work in Young Girls’ Aspirations

Abstract

This article shows the significance of college-going aspiration in the future identities of young girls and the sources of such influence in their worlds. Using the figured worlds theory, the paper analyzes the process and implications of these young girls’ college-going aspirations. Drawing on interviews and observations with nineteen young girls living in urban India, the study shows that their response to the normative good girl figure gives them a chance of going to college. Their imagined identity is linked to values and communicative competence, and their figuring shows their investment in their own cultural transformation.