Rezension
"The contributions in Jipson and Johnson's edited collection reflect the belief that the world can be shaped by human action and that a commitment to social change can enhance the lives of children. This volume constitutes a unique contribution to the field of early childhood education as it examines issues of resistance and representation. Not only do the authors challenge the hegemony of the psychologically driven models in the field, but they also question the construction of childhood from the western cultural experience that inscribes power and privilege. This book explores how a 'more authentic and culturally responsive early childhood practice can be created' (Jipson) while continuing to build upon the work of the early childhood reconceptualists. The authors propose promising feminist, critical, multicultural, postmodern, and postcolonial perspectives; question dominant representations of childhood; explore the constructions of teacher identity; and challenge the assumptions of early childhood research and scholarship." (Lourdes Diaz Soto, Pennsylvania State University)
"This provocative, multivocal edited volume brings together a rich and compelling set of essays, research reports, and theoretical analyses that continue to interrogate and deconstruct persistent assumptions and discourses within the early childhood education field. Reflecting a decade of reconceptualist scholarship and debate, this book foregrounds critical, cross-cultural, neocolonial, postmodern, and feminist framings of early childhood curriculum and research. With chapters written by scholars from Australia, Canada, and the United States, the reader is engaged with border crossings, culturally framed narratives, and encounters with the often contradictory prevailing sensibilities and theoretical hegemonies of early childhood discourse. I recommend this book to anyone who is open to decolonizing research, problematizing empirical and theoretical masterscripts, and yearnings for spaces of unimagined possibility. In the words of bell hooks, this book serves those of us who have chosen the margin 'as a space of radical openness' in our lives and work." (Beth Blue Swadener, Professor, Teaching Leadership and Curriculum Studies, Kent State University)
Portrait
The Editors: Janice A. Jipson is Professor of Education at National-Louis University. Her recent publications include Repositioning Feminism and Education; Perspectives on Education for Social Change (1995); Daredevil Research: Recreating Analytic Practice (Peter Lang, 1996); Intersections: Feminisms and Early Childhoods (Peter Lang, 1997); and Questions of You and the Struggle of Collaborative Life (Peter Lang, 2000). Her interests include early childhood curriculum and research issues related to intersubjectivity and representation.
Richard T. Johnson is Associate Professor of Education at the University of Hawaii. His most recent work critiques «no touch» policies in early education in his book, Hands Off!: The Disappearance of Touch in the Care of Young Children (Peter Lang, 1999). Johnson’s interests are focused on critiquing the normative practices in the field of early childhood.
