Exploring ANTI-BLACK Racism in the Lives of Young BLACK Girls in EARLY Childhood Education and Care Settings
Childhood Education and Care as evidenced through discourses of multiculturalism and diversity, dominant Western developmental paradigms, and the lack of culturally relevant pedagogy (Abawi & Berman, 2019; Nxumalo and Pacini-Ketchabaw, 2023). In such a way that neoliberal multiculturalism shapes how conversations on race and racism are(not) taken up in the field of early education. Recent research attests to the various ways in which Black children between eighteen months to five years-old experience forms of anti-Black violence in early learning settings, mirroring the educational experiences of Black students’ from k-12 (Bernard & Smith, 2018; Essien & Wood, 2020; George, 2020; James & Turner, 2017; Litchmore, 2021; MacNevin & Berman, 2017;McPherson, 2021; Pimentel et al., 2023; Sterling-Cameron et al., 2023; Watson et al., 2023). Although young children experience racism in early learning settings, these incidents remain unacknowledged by early childhood educators through colourblind and race neutral attitudes (Abawi & Berman, 2019; Berman et al., 2017; Daniel & Escayg, 2019). Missing from the scholarship are the marginal experiences of young Black girls from preschool to grade three. Through a comparative exploratory research design using in-depth interviews, the proposed research project seeks to engage with African Nova Scotian ECEs and ECEs of African descent located in Ontario and Nova Scotia to answer the following research questions: How do Black ECEs understand and respond to racial incidences involving Black girls between 3-8 years-old? What patterns of exclusion do Black ECEs identify for Black girls? How do Black ECEs support the well-being of Black girls? This study draws on critical race theory, Black feminist epistemologies and Black girlhood theory to understand the experiences of Black girls as observed by Black female ECE’s.