Race and Early Childhood Education - (Critical Cultural Studies of Childhood) by Kenneth A Loparo & K Davis (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

This book explores the prominence of 'race' in the lives of young children and their early childhood educators. It critiques the often presumed racial innocence of young children and shows instead how young children actively engage with the politics of race as they form their own identities. It challenges early childhood educators to engage with children's racialised identity politics, and shows how this often requires early childhood educators to rethink their own racialised identities. Amongst the challenges the book presents it offers points of possibility and hope for creating more racially just early childhood classrooms.

Review Quotes

"Mac Naughton and Davis explode the popular conception of racial innocence in early childhood. This provocative work challenges early childhood educators to rethink how they engage with issues of race in their classrooms and argues strongly for the inclusion of anti-racist pedagogies in early education." - Julie Kaomea, Associate Professor, College of Education, University of Hawai I at Manoa.

"This book locates race; it does not erase it from being a pedagogical imperative for early childhood educators. It takes us out of the soft, safe spaces where notions of inclusivity are tucked away, dangerous and outdated. Mac Naughton and Davis have looked into and beyond the mirror and found where the challenges lie, and where the changes can occur in ways that expand our work, not diminish it. They have embraced race and this makes this work an essential text for all early childhood professionals." - Karen L. Martin, Associate Professor, School of Education, Southern Cross University.

About the Author

GLENDA MACNAUGHTON is Director of the University of Melbourne's Centre for Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood, Australia and has researched around issues of cultural diversity and 'race' in the early childhood field for over 15 years.

KARINA DAVIS is a Research Fellow in the Centre for Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood and a lecturer at the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education, Australia.