Ethnographic Essay

The topic I chose for my ethnographic essay involves a particular group of girls at a public high school in Dallas. I went to a private school and was not exposed to any of the things that I have heard these girls talk about. The group of girls are juniors in high school and I met them through a Bible study I taught last summer. The reason I have chosen to talk about these girls is that their lifestyles (friends, activities, social events) were chosen for them by their mothers when they weren't even in first grade yet. The small town where this public high school is centered has a certain hierarchy that was predetermined by the first generation of women who lived there. Now these women, generations later, are still teaching their daughters that they have to look and act a certain way, not to mention befriend the right people, in order to be a part of the "group." It doesn't matter if a girl doesn't want to be involved in that group, her mother will make sure that she stays in that group, even if it is against that girls wishes. I plan to interview the girls in this particular group and find out the types of things they must do in order to be set a part, and the lifestyle that they have to live in order to belong.