The 'troublemakers'

Mevawalla, Zinnia; Salamon, Andi and Chng, Angela, eds. (2019) The 'troublemakers'. In: Multiple Early Childhood Identities. Routledge, Oxon, UK, pp. 18-33. ISBN 9780367001339 (https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429444357)

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Abstract

Research on identity in the early years has widened the ‘lens’ used to frame children’s subjectivities as capable and competent beings. Despite this, much of the literature on children from underprivileged contexts has continued to position children as ‘tragic’ or ‘needy’. For example, research on children living on the street in India continues to be imbued by language caricaturising children as ‘vulnerable’, ‘criminal’, ‘troublesome’ or ‘violent’. Concurrently, literature suggests that labels such as “street child” have been used to classify, rank, measure, exclude and/or segregate children in early childhood and educational programs. Thus, critics have argued that constructions of the “street child” have made children’s identities synonymous with their experiences of street life, thereby disregarding the view that vulnerability is a situational experience, rather than an inherent trait. Reflecting on the question of ‘if a focus on identity may be as problematic as it is useful’, this chapter is underscored by three aims. First, it aims to disrupt the adult ‘gaze’ of the “street child”, drawing on insights from research eliciting children’s perspectives. Secondly, the chapter unpacks the views of children living on the street about their identity and experiences as “street children”. Finally, the chapter draws on insights from critical pedagogy to problematise oppression and offer alternatives for engaging children in the processes of identity resistance, reinvention and reclamation, through reflection on the pedagogical possibilities emerging from engaging children in the development of critical consciousness.

  • Item type:Book Section
    ID code:74908
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    25 June 2019
    Published
    Notes:This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Multiple Early Childhood Identities on 25th June 2019, available online: http://www.routledge.com/Multiple-Early-Childhood-Identities/Salamon-Chng/p/book/9780367001339
    Subjects:Education
    Department:Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > Strathclyde Institute of Education > Education
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:15 Dec 2020 21:46
    Last modified:18 Apr 2024 00:07
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/74908
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