The Early Childhood Educator: Critical Conversations in Feminist Theory (Feminist Thought in Childhood Research)

Across the globe the work of early childhood educators, who are predominantly women, is misunderstood, underpaid and undervalued. Perspectives on early childhood educators are highly contentious: are they child development experts, oppressed workers, maternal substitutes, technicians, facilitators of early learning, or something else? This volume features chapter authors from Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the USA and New Zealand, examine a range of contemporary feminist theories in relation to the early childhood educator. The feminist theories covered include materialist feminism, poststructural feminism, decolonizing feminisms, posthumanist feminism, new materialist feminism, feminist ethics of care, womanist feminism, postcolonial feminism, femme theory and feminist queer theory. The editors of the volume offer an introduction and commentaries that explore solidarities and tensions between the feminisms to generate critical conversations about the work, lived experiences, and agency of early childhood educators. The volume contributes to shifting understandings of the early childhood educator in the contexts of culture, practice, policy and politics. Cover Contents Series Editors’ Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction Brooke Richardson and Rachel Langford 1 Reflections on Poststructural Feminisms: Supporting Multiple Performances of Teacher Identities Kylie Smith 2 Kristevan Early Childhood Teacher: Poststructural Feminist Identities in Australia and New Zealand Sonja Arndt and Marek Tesar 3 Labouring Relations and the Early Childhood Educator: The Return to Materialism Jan Newberry 4 Reclaiming Early Childhood Educator(s) as Early Childhood Educator(s) through Feminist Ethics of Care Melinda Bruce and Alana Powell Commentary 1 Rachel Langford and Brooke Richardson 5 Waves upon Waves: Highlighting the Invisibility of the Early Childhood Workforce through Conversations with Fourth Wave, Black and Postcolonial Feminisms Flora Harmon, Erica Ritter and Radhika Viruru 6 Womanist Praxis in Early Childhood Education and Care: Educators’ Nourishment of Mind-Body-Spirit Relations Nnenna Odim, Kia S. Rideaux and Michelle Salazar Pérez 7 Decolonizing Feminisms: Provocations for Early Childhood Educators in Aotearoa/New Zealand Jenny Ritchie Commentary 2 Brooke Richardson and Rachel Langford 8 Queer Bodies in Early Childhood: Gender and Sexuality Disruption(s) and Impure Feminisms to ‘Get Us Free’ Janice Kroeger 9 Posthuman Possibilities for the Early Childhood Educator Meagan Montpetit 10 Early Childhood Pedagogues, Thresholds and the Potentialities of Feminisms and New Materialism Gunilla Dahlberg and Ann Merete Otterstad 11 Femme-inist Approaches to Early Childhood Education and Care: Cultivating Pedagogies of Care via Femme Theory Adam W.J. Davies and Rhea Ashley Hoskin Commentary 3 Rachel Langford and Brooke Richardson Concluding Remarks Rachel Langford and Brooke Richardson Index "Across the globe the work of early childhood educators, who are predominantly women, is misunderstood, underpaid and undervalued. Perspectives on early childhood educators are highly contentious: are they child development experts, oppressed workers, maternal substitutes, technicians, facilitators of early learning, or something else? This volume features chapter authors from Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the USA and New Zealand, who work with a particular feminist perspective. The feminist theories covered include materialist feminism, poststructural feminism, decolonizing feminisms, post humanist feminism, new materialist feminism, feminist ethics of care, womanist feminism, postcolonial feminism, femme theory and feminist queer theory. The chapter authors describe the key themes of these theories and explore how they can illuminate our understandings of the early childhood educator. The editors of the volume offer an introduction and commentaries that explore solidarities and tensions between the feminisms to generate critical conversations about the work, lived experiences, and agency of early childhood educators. The volume contributes to shifting understandings of the early childhood educator in the contexts of culture, practice, policy and politics."-- Provided by publisher