Multilingual Children's Literatures: BLACK Narratives' Potentialities for Linguistic Diversity

This presentation aims to explore and reflect upon the proposal of a literature course in Early Childhood Education (ECE) centred around multilingual children's narratives, specifically focused on Brazilian black authors such as Conceição Evaristo, Luiz Gama, Mestre Didi, Lélia Gonzales, Sueli Carneiro, Milton Santos, amongst others. By and large, these authors usually delve into profound themes like structural racism, social injustice, black identity, gender inequalities and the historical struggles for rights in Brazil. However, often centred around metaphors and engaging stories that stimulate children's curiosity and empathy, the simplified versions of these books offer sensitive ways to go through these themes that still retain the essence of the discussions but soften the way these topics could be dealt with in ECE, without losing sight of the importance of racial and social topics. Thus, the goal of this course is to explore the potential of these children’s narratives for promoting linguistic diversity, social justice and environmental consciousness by challenging anthropocentric perspectives in addition to incorporating multispecies viewpoints and encouraging youngsters to think beyond human exceptionalism. The literature will be used as a springboard to promote collective agency and multispecies justice in ECE, handling the deeply entrenched structural racism in Brazil and how it intersects with environmental, racial and gender justice. The course structure will be organized into thematic modules which introduce in ECE concepts including multispecies justice, human and more-than-human interplay, environmental and racial justice, apart from language and identity. Based on this organisation, this presentation will address racial discrimination, colonial legacies and the structural oppression that permeates Brazilian society. It will also emphasize the importance of dealing with epistemic justice in ECE, recognizing the value of black knowledge systems for the interconnectedness of all living beings with a view to fostering a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable future.