Black girls navigate the physical and emotional landscape of the neighbourhood

Normalized violence and strategic agency

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21724714
AutoresClaudia Bernard (0000-0001-5554-5233, Goldsmiths University of London, autor de correspondencia), Anna Carlile (0000-0002-1785-8826, Goldsmiths University of London)
Año2021
Volumen20
Número3
Páginas866-883
Fecha de publicación2021-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaQualitative Social Work (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1473-3250 • E-ISSN: 1741-3117
EditorialSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1473325020920341
OpenAlexW3021080305
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas40

This article considers how young Black women living in gang-affected neighbourhoods in an urban area in England, UK navigate their safety in public and private spaces, and how these spaces overlap and intersect. Drawing on a project with 18 participants aged 14–19, the research seeks to understand how the participants inhabit, navigate and strategize for their safety through their narratives of life and survival in an unsafe neighbourhood. Findings indicate that they experience sexual harassment in public spaces and gang-associated sexual and physical violence as common, accepted aspects of their everyday realities, from as young as 12. The narratives suggest that participants navigate complex friendship groups to protect each other and their families through tight codes of trust, secrecy, privacy and conflict-management strategies. This article seeks to bring attention to how young women utilize their agency to illuminate the coping strategies they draw on to navigate their physical environments. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications for interventions

Criminology · Everyday life · Friendship · Harassment · Narrative · Political science · Psychological intervention · Public relations · Secrecy · Social science · Sociology · Children's Rights and Participation · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Participatory Visual Research Methods · Psychology · Social Psychology