This volume explores transgender children and internalized body normalization in early childhood education settings, steeped in critical methodologies including post-structuralism, queer theory, and feminist approaches. The book marries theory and praxis, submitting to current and future teachers a text that not only presents authentic narratives about trans children in early childhood education, but also analyzes the forces at work behind gender policing, gender segregation, and transphobic education policies. As the struggles and triumphs of trans individuals have reached a watershed moment in the social fabric of the United States, this text offers a snapshot into the lives of ten transgender people as they reflect on their earliest memories in the American educational system.

Marries both theory and praxis and captures the authentic narratives of trans individuals in the early elementary school system Includes discussions about maximum control over the physical body, safe spaces, restrictive curriculum methods, and public humiliation in the context of the school setting Explores Foucault's normalization of the body theory

Autorentext

Ashley L. Sullivan is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Penn State Behrend, USA. Her research focuses on young transgender children in early education settings, children's literature containing transgender characters, children in poverty, reconceptualist methodologies, and kindergarten "readiness."

Laurie L. Urraro is Assistant Teaching Professor of Spanish at Penn State Behrend, USA. She teaches language and culture classes. Her research focuses on contemporary female-authored Spanish drama, gender and sexuality, and women's issues.

Inhalt

1. Trans Who? Understanding Transgender Children.- 2. Being Young and Trans in School.- 3. Theory, History, and Realities of Transgender Individuals.- 4. Hiding in the Open: Portraits of Trans Partners (Birth-Eight).- 5. Spaces, Places, Faces - Erases and Embraces: Actions and Experiences of the Trans Child Within Normative Frameworks.- 6. Art Studios Versus Locker Rooms: Safe and Unsafe Places for Trans Children.- 7. Focusing the lens: Theoretical Perspectives of Body Normalization.- 8. Where Do We Go From Here? Dos and Don'ts When Working with Trans Children.