Unearthing gender violence with/in kindergarten play environments

ABSTRACT

This paper implements a feminist new material lens to illuminate how the spaces and objects of play are actively involved in the enactment and normalisation of gender violence in kindergarten. Findings from data collected in two Canadian kindergartens show how the familiar and mundane spatial-material arrangements of play, namely the use of blocks, implicitly propagated hierarchal gender divisions in children’s play and facilitated explicit acts of material violence by boys against girls. Drawing on Blaise’s (Blaise, M. 2005. Playing it Straight: Uncovering Gender Discourses in the Early Childhood Classroom. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Blaise, M. 2014. “Interfering with Gendered Development: A Timely Intervention.” International Journal of Early Childhood 46: 317–326.) concept of post-developmentalism, the author concludes with a discussion on the possibilities of feminist new material frameworks in early learning and for re-thinking current play-based practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood education
• feminist new materialism
• gender inequalities
• play-based learning
• post-developmentalism
• violence against girls

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors for their helpful feedback on earlier drafts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Depending on when during the year a child’s birthday falls, kindergarten classrooms may include three- and six-year-olds.

2 Protocol ID 34192

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jessica Prioletta

Jessica Prioletta is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Bishop's University. She applies a critical feminist lens in her work to examine how gender inequalities and gender violence are normalized in early learning.