"Whatever (Neck Roll, Eye Roll, Teeth Suck)": The Situated Coproduction of Social Categories and Identities through Stancetaking and Transmodal Stylization

This article examines the argumentative talk of a preadolescent girls' peer group demonstrating both the co-construction of microinteractional identities as well as the coproduction of macro-social identity categories, such as race, class, and gender. Activities of social aggression are performed through embodied styling and stancetaking in the midst of oppositional moves towards a "tagalong" girl. Through transmodal stylization girls openly mock an African American working-class girl using talk associated with wealthy white "Valley Girls," while simultaneously producing gestures associated with working-class black "Ghetto Girls." Through the use of different communicative modalities girls simultaneously index multiple culturally salient representations. [stance, style, peer group, conflict talk, identity].