The Early Childhood Educator

Rachel Langford is Professor Emeritus in the School of Early Childhood Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada. She is the author of Theorizing Feminist Ethics of Care in Early Childhood Practice (Bloomsbury, 2019).Brooke Richardson is Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Sociology at Brock University, Canada. She has published internationally on topics related gender and childcare policy, child protection and the broader care economy.

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.

Introduction Brooke Richardson (Brock University, Canada) and Rachel Langford (Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada)1. Reflections on Poststructural Feminisms: Supporting Multiple Performances of Teacher Identities Kylie Smith (University of Melbourne, Australia)2. Kristevan Early Childhood Teacher Poststructural Feminist Identities in Australia and New Zealand Sonja Arndt and Marek Tesar (University of Auckland, New Zealand)3. Laboring Relations and the Early Childhood Educator: The Return to Materialism Jan Newberry (University of Lethbridge, Canada)4. Reclaiming Early Childhood Educator(s) as Early Childhood Educator(s) through Feminist Ethics of Care Melinda Bruce (Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada) and Alana Powell (Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario, Canada)Commentary 1 Rachel Langford (Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada) and Brooke Richardson (Brock University, Canada)5. Waves upon waves: Highlighting the Invisibility of the Early Childhood Workforce through Conversations with Fourth Wave, Black, and Postcolonial Feminisms Flora Harmon (Texas A&M University, USA), Erica Ritter (Texas A&M University, USA) and Radhika Viruru (Texas A&M University, USA)6. Womanist Praxis in Early Childhood Education and Care: Educators' Nourishment of Mind-Body-Spirit Relations Nnenna Odim (The University of Texas at Austin, USA), Kia S. Rideaux (School District, North Texas, USA), and Michelle Salazar Pérez (The University of Texas at Austin, USA)7. Decolonizing Feminisms: Provocations for Early Childhood Educators in Aotearoa | New Zealand Jenny RitchieCommentary 2 Brooke Richardson (Brock University, Canada) and Rachel Langford (Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada)8. Queer bodies in Early Childhood: Gender Disruption(s) & Impure feminisms to "Get us Free" Janice Kroeger (Kent State University, USA)9. Posthuman Possibilities for the Early Childhood Educator Meagan Montpetit (Western University, Canada)10. Early Childhood Pedagogues, Thresholds, Feminisms and New Materialism Gunilla Dahlberg (Stockholm University, Sweden) and Ann Merete Otterstad (Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway)11. Femme-inist Approaches to Early Childhood Education & Care: Cultivating Pedagogies of Care via Femme Theory Adam W.J. Davies (University of Guelph, Canada) and Rhea Ashley Hoskin (University of Waterloo, Canada)Commentary 3 Rachel Langford (Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada) and Brooke Richardson (Brock University, Canada)Concluding Remarks Rachel Langford (Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada) and Brooke Richardson (Brock University, Canada)Index