“Down the Toilet”: Spatial Politics and Young Children’s Participation

Millei, Zsuzsa; Imre, Robert

doi:10.1007/978-981-4585-57-6_27

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…For these participants this came down to a fear of homosexuality. Indeed, these fears were echoed in Millei and Imre's (2015) study with pre-school children. The authors describe a change from 'open plan' pre-school toilets with no cubicles, visible from the classroom and garden, to single stalls with lockable doors.…”

Section: Civilisation and Lessons In Identity From The Toiletmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The discomfort with the word 'civilisation', then, is a useful reminder that understandings of 'adulthood' are tied up in White, Western, masculine, cisgender, 2 able and heteronormative ideals (Slater 2015). Millei and Imre (2015) write that civilisation relies on the visibility of children's bodies. Paechter (2004) furthers this in a paper that theorises mind/body dualisms and the marginalisation of sex education.…”

Section: Identity Embodiment and Civilising Spacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This was perceived as fun at first, but as they grew older they became uncomfortable about what could be perceived as displays of masculinity in the bathroom. There are some useful studies of the school toilet, such as Ingrey (2012) and Millei et al's work based on a 2009 research project in Australia (see Cliff and Millei 2011;Millei and Gallagher 2012;Millei and Cliff 2013;Millei and Imre 2015). However, despite this important work that aims to reposition toilets as a social and cultural space that shapes the quality of children's experiences of schooling, we argue that school toilet literature often fails to acknowledge socio-cultural histories of toilets (school or otherwise), and, relating to this, the intertwined relationships between toilets, embodiment and identity (gender, disability, sexuality, race, faith and so on).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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School toilets: queer, disabled bodies and gendered lessons of embodiment

Slater

Jones

Procter

2016

Gender and Education

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In this paper we argue that school toilets function as one civilising site [Elias, 1978. The Civilising Process. Oxford: Blackwell] in which children learn that disabled and queer bodies are out of place. This paper is the first to offer queer and crip perspectives on school toilets. The small body of existing school toilet literature generally works from a normative position which implicitly perpetuates dominant and oppressive ideals. We draw on data from Around the Toilet, a collaborative research project with queer, trans and disabled people (aroundthetoilet.wordpress.com) to critically interrogate this work. In doing this we consider 'toilet training' as a form of 'civilisation', that teaches lessons around identity, embodiment and ab/normal ways of being in the world. Furthermore, we show that 'toilet training' continues into adulthood, albeit in ways that are less easily identifiable than in the early years. We therefore call for a more critical, inclusive, and transformative approach to school toilet research. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Civilisation and Lessons In Identity From The Toiletmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Identity Embodiment and Civilising Spacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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School toilets: queer, disabled bodies and gendered lessons of embodiment

Slater

Jones

Procter

2016

Gender and Education

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“…toilet paper, soap, hot water), insufficient durability, pupils' lack of 'ownership' over the space, and a failure in balancing the need for pupil privacy with staff observation (e.g. Barnes & Maddocks, 2002;Burton, 2013;Millei & Imre, 2015;Rajaratnam, Patel, Parry, Perry, & Palmer, 1992;Upadhyay, Mathai, & Reed, 2008;Vernon, Lundblad, & Hellstrom, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When disabled children's experiences do emerge, their inclusion rests upon medical, individualised understandings of ab/normal bodies. Millei and Imre (2015) point out that, like any clinical/medicalised setting, the toilet becomes 'regulated through powerful medical and public health knowledges that construct children as inferior and adults in a position of mastery' (p. 7). Building on Millei and Imre, we analyse two examples of online school 'toilet talk' to argue that the 'adult' figure in a position of mastery relies on a normative construct of adulthood that is white, male, cisgender, heterosexual, middle/upper class, Western European or North American and 'rational' (Liddiard & Slater, 2017;Slater, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Troubling school toilets: resisting discourses of ‘development’ through a critical disability studies and critical psychology lens

Slater

Jones

Procter

2017

Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education

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This paper interrogates how school toilets and 'school readiness' are used to assess children against developmental milestones. Such developmental norms both inform school toilet design and practice, and perpetuate normative discourses of childhood as middle-class, white, 'able', heteronormative, cissexist and inferior to adulthood. Critical psychology and critical disability studies frame our analysis of conversations from online practitioner forums. We show that school toilets and the norms and ideals of 'toilet training' act as one device for Othering those who do not fit into normative Western discourses of 'childhood'. Furthermore, these idealised discourses of 'childhood' reify classed, racialised, gendered and dis/ablist binaries of good/bad parenting. We conclude by suggesting new methodological approaches to school toilet research which resist perpetuating developmental assumptions and prescriptions. In doing this, the paper is the first to explicitly bring school toilet research into the realms of critical psychology and critical disability studies.

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Recognizing politics in the nursery: Early childhood education institutions as sites of mundane politics

Millei

Kallio

2016

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

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In his inspirational article titled ‘Bringing politics into the nursery’, Peter Moss argues for early childhood institutions to become places of ‘democratic political practice’. In this article, the authors add to Moss’s call and argue that these institutions are sites of ‘mundane political practice’, containing various attitudinal orientations and ideologies, and including many kinds of purposive activities. Recognizing different dimensions of political life in institutional spaces where children lead their lives requires a differentiation between two types of politics: first, official politics and policies that aim to institute certain ideals in early childhood education and care and, second, everyday politics unfolding in communities that involve people as political subjects from birth until death. When the latter is discussed in early childhood research, if at all, it is rarely identified in political terms, which the authors consider problematic. The lacking recognition of mundane politics denies important aspects of children’s agency, which is prejudicial in itself. Moreover, such ignorance may lead to unintended consequences in democratization processes, like the one suggested by Moss. Imposing political ideals without recognizing children’s existing political agencies carries a risk of interfering with their political lives so that some children may feel misrecognized or find their capacities to act hindered or their activities misunderstood. In order to avoid such outcomes, this article is an argument for research and pedagogies that acknowledge and scaffold children’s political agencies at large.

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“Down the Toilet”: Spatial Politics and Young Children’s Participation

Cited by 5 publications

References 25 publications

School toilets: queer, disabled bodies and gendered lessons of embodiment

School toilets: queer, disabled bodies and gendered lessons of embodiment

Troubling school toilets: resisting discourses of ‘development’ through a critical disability studies and critical psychology lens

Recognizing politics in the nursery: Early childhood education institutions as sites of mundane politics

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