Counter-Storytelling: A Form of Resistance and Tool to Reimagine More Inclusive Early Childhood Education Spaces
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37119/ojs2022.v28i1b.661Abstract
In this essay, I reflect on my lived experiences as a girl child growing up in my home country of Botswana, and also as a mother in a foreign country, Canada. I am experimenting with my personal essay and making connections with academic articles that will help me understand my behaviors, attitudes, and responses to challenging situations that seemed unfair and unjust. I believe sharing my experiences not only gives me a platform to reflect, but also renders an opportunity to unearth hidden ideologies that perpetuate dominant discourses that continue to undesirably affect early childhood education. Sharing the unfortunate events for me brings healing and comfort. My essay is guided by critical race theory that provokes and challenges the normalized practices in education that continue to marginalize the minority community. Also, my inspiration for this piece was drawn from Wallace and Lewis’s (2020) book, which described humans as narrative creatures who need stories/narratives to make sense of the world around them. The essay unpacks and discusses four critical questions, at the same time, offering acts of resistance and refusal by applying counter-storytelling methodology.
Keywords: counter-storytelling, critical race theory, lived experiences, racialized minorities, early childhood education, acts of resistance and refusal
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Amanda Matebekwane
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
