ABSTRACT
Despite the affinity between Girls’ Studies and humanities disciplines such as literary studies, history, philosophy, religion, and rhetoric, girls have been largely excluded from the imagined human subject of the humanities. The political subject that emerged as a result of Renaissance humanism – around which our modern humanities have revolved – is legible only in contrast to the subjectivities of age, gender, race, ability, and class associated with girlhood. These intertwined conceptual histories of girl and human, furthermore, are rooted in colonialist ideologies and the material experiences of enslavement. Drawing on the work of Sylvia Wynter, I argue that a Girls’ Studies approach to the humanities will both historicize the girl-as-human and center the notion of human-as-girl. Through readings of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and the poetry of Phillis Wheatley Peters, I show that Girls’ Studies can reimagine the work of humanities disciplines to prioritize girls in our understanding of the human experience.
