Textual Spaces of the Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

Studying the textual spaces of girlhood is a complex task for we have to consider the textual readings derived through literary and document analysis along with producer texts as read through the experiences of girls themselves. Studying textual spaces can extend even into a consideration of material space and how we might engage in decolonizing practices that attend to the dynamics of power and colonial violence. This investigation into a broad range of textualities serves as a reminder of the past, a consideration of the present, and a looking towards imagined futures. It also helps us to appreciate the interrelatedness of textual spaces so that that it is possible to consider what might be regarded as classics of colonial literature for girls alongside new platforms for addressing social justice and how they might inform each other. It is only in an unthemed issue of Girlhood Studies that addressing such a wide range of texts and textualities is possible.