Exploring young children’s gendered discourses about skin colour

ABSTRACT

Drawing on an ethnographic study conducted with young children (4–5 year olds) in a multi-ethnic Early Years classroom in the north of England this paper shows how young children’s discourses about skin colour are informed by intersections with their gender identities. This ethnography uncovers how young children engage with the related concepts of ‘race’/ethnicity, racialisation and racism in their peer interactions alongside how they appropriate ‘markers of difference’ to promote their own identity and ascribe an identity to their peers. By comparing the discourses collectively produced by two groups of children in the class this study argues that there is a need for whiteness to be educationally discoursed in a way that uncovers the violence of racism and exposes the cultural and political privileges of ‘being white.’

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• skin colour
• racialisation
• racism
• whiteness
• colonialism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Ruth Barley http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0958-9619

Notes

1 In using the combined term ‘race’/ethnicity I am seeking to capture both structural factors relating to racial difference that can be imposed from the outside as well as cultural factors that can be self-defined.

2 Pseudonyms are used throughout both in terms of the name of the school and the children.

3 Prevent is one of four strands of the UK government's controversial counter-terrorism strategy, known as Contest.

 

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.