Engaging With the Messiness of Place in Early Childhood Education and Art Therapy: Exploring Animal Relations, Traditional Hide, and Drum

Narda Nelson; Emily Coon; Anna Chadwick

doi:10.18357/jcs.v40i2.15178

Engaging With the Messiness of Place in Early Childhood Education and Art Therapy: Exploring Animal Relations, Traditional Hide, and Drum

Authors

Narda Nelson University of Victoria
Emily Coon University of Victoria
Anna Chadwick University of Victoria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18357/jcs.v40i2.15178

Abstract

How place is conceptualized impacts the way everyday moments and relationships unfold. This paper explores possibilities for shifting our practices by engaging with an ethic of doing. Drawing on ecofeminist, nomadic, and Indigenous perspectives, we aim to open up space for more accountable, political practices that acknowledge the diverse realities of the children and youth we work with. We present vignettes from our practices to illustrate possibilities for (re)conceptualizing the deeply embedded, normative colonial assumptions in the places we work, and introduce political, contextual, and messy ways of doing in place.

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Author Biographies

Narda Nelson, University of Victoria

Narda Nelson is a master’s student in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria. She works as part of a multispecies inquiry in early childhood education. Her research and presentations focus on multispecies relations and nature pedagogies within early childhood spaces. Email: nelsonn@uvic.ca

Emily Coon, University of Victoria

Emily Coon is a master’s student in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria in Canada. She is Haudenosaunee from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in Ontario. As a traditional singer and drum carrier, her practice and research focuses on the decolonizing possibilities that arise when children are in relationship with Drum. Email: eccoon@uvic.ca

Anna Chadwick, University of Victoria

Anna Chadwick is a master’s student in the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria. She works as an art therapist for children and youth in northern British Columbia. Her current research focuses on arts-‐based methodologies with Indigenous youth in northern Canada.
Email: Anna.Chadwick@sd87.bc.ca

Published

2015-12-05

How to Cite

Nelson, N., Coon, E., & Chadwick, A. (2015). Engaging With the Messiness of Place in Early Childhood Education and Art Therapy: Exploring Animal Relations, Traditional Hide, and Drum. Journal of Childhood Studies, 40(2), 42–55. https://doi.org/10.18357/jcs.v40i2.15178

Issue

Vol. 40 No. 2 (Spring 2015) Canadian Children

Section

Articles

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