For the past 20 years, a range of scholars, educators, and cultural workers have examined dominant discourses of «childhood» using critical, feminist, and other postmodern perspectives. Located in a variety of disciplines, these poststructural, deconstructive, and even postcolonial critiques have challenged everything from notions of the universal child, to adult/child dualisms, to deterministic developmental theory. The purpose of this volume is to acknowledge the profound contributions of that large body of literature, while demonstrating the ways that critical analyses can be used to generate avenues/actions that increase possibilities for social justice for those who are younger while, at the same time, avoiding determinism. In this time of globalization, hyper-capitalism, and discourses that would control and disqualify through constructions like accountability, we believe that projects such as this are of utmost importance. The volume is divided into four major sections to reflect the multiplicity of human voices and perspectives (section I), contemporary circumstances and dominant discourses within which we all attempt to function (sections II and III), and the generation of new possibilities for constructing relationships together (section IV). Finally, a voice from the «heart» within a «reconceptualist» social science agenda for early childhood studies is presented.

Autorentext

The Editors: Gaile S. Cannella is Professor and Velma E. Schmidt Endowed Chair of Early Childhood Studies at the University of North Texas. Her books include Deconstructing Early Childhood Education: Social Justice and Revolution (Peter Lang); and Childhood and Postcolonization, with Radhika Viruru. Her work has been translated to Spanish and Korean. Currently, her interests include the exploration of critical qualitative research methods as avenues for counterimperialism and for challenging oppressive childhood policies and discourse practices. Lourdes Diaz Soto is the Goizueta Endowed Chair in Teacher Education at Dalton State College in Georgia. Some of her publications include The Praeger Handbook of Latino Education in the U.S. and The Politics of Early Childhood Education (Peter Lang).

Inhalt

Contents: Gaile S. Cannella: Introduction Erica Burman: Un/thinking Children in Development: A Contribution from Northern Antidevelopmental Psychology Cinthya M. Saavedra/Steven P. Camicia: Transnational Childhoods: Bodies That Challenge Boundaries A. Bame Nsamenang: Childhoods within Africäs Triple Heritage Devorah Kennedy/Marianne Bloch: Negotiating Sameness and Difference: American Jewish Childhood Donald R. Collins: African American Children: Early Childhood Education Recollections and Life Stories Melinda Miller: Critical Literacy and Young Children: A Case Study of Literacy Experiences of Six African American Children Michel Vandenbroeck/Rudi Roose/Maria De Bie: Governing Families in the Social Investment State I-Fang Lee: Global and Local Trends for Governance and Planning in Early Childhood Education and Care: Effects of Preschool Vouchers Michelle Salazar Perez/Gaile S. Cannella: Disaster Capitalism as Neoliberal Instrument for the Construction of Early Childhood Education/Care Policy: Charter Schools in Post-Katrina New Orleans Sue Books: Why and How Poverty Matters in Schooling in the USA Susan Grieshaber: Sexualization of Children in Contemporary Australian Media Nicola Yelland/Greg Neal: Cyber-childhoods, Popular Culture and Constructing Identities Sandra Chang-Kredl: Cinematic Representations of Childhood: Privileging the Adult Viewer Lourdes Diaz Soto/Sharon Hixon/Clare Hite: Diversity, Linguistics, and the Silencing of Social Justice in Education and Care Sadaf Shallwani: Racism and Imperialism in the Child Development Discourse: Deconstructing «Developmentally Appropriate Practice» Araceli Rivas: Modern Research Discourses Constructing the Postcolonial Subjectivity of (Mexican) American Children Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw/Radhika Viruru: The Ambivalence of Citizenship in Early Childhood Education: Antiracist, Transnational Feminist, and Postcolonial Contributions Corrine Wickens: The Denial of Sexuality and the Power of Censorship Liz Jones/Rachel Holmes/Christina MacRae/Maggie MacLure: Critical Politics of Play Iris Duhn: Mapping Globalization and Childhood: Possibilities for Curriculum and Pedagogy Harold Gothson: Appropriating Reggio Emilia: From Cults to Cultural Constructions Maggie MacLure/Liz Jones/Rachel Holmes/Christina MacRae: Childhood and the Construction of Critical Research Practices Liselott Mariett Olsson: Using Material Molecular Politics in Early Childhood Education Jenny Ritchie/Cheryl Rau: Kia mau ki te wairuatanga: Countercolonial Narratives of Early Childhood Education in Aotearoa Lourdes Diaz Soto: Constructing Critical Futures: Projects from the Heart.