Modest witness(ing) and lively stories: paying attention to matters of concern in early childhood

Abstract

This article considers the role of early childhood education within these uncertain times of human induced climate change. It draws from feminism and environmental humanities to experiment with different ways of becoming-with the world. By bringing together Donna Haraway's figure of the Modest Witness and Deborah Bird Rose's notion of witnessing, the article rethinks what it means to 'observe' in terms of ethical response-ability and matters of concern. Data from a multisensory and multispecies ethnography are used to illuminate the observational practices that commonly take place in early childhood settings. The article concludes by employing 'lively stories' showing how modest witness(ing) reworks early childhood observations traditionally considered apolitical, distanced, and judgmental towards meaning making as a form of entanglements and open-ended dialogue. Modest witness(ing) attempts to put into practice initial ethical and political pedagogies that early childhood teachers can draw from and begin to address matters of concern in their own settings.

Storying Diffractive Pedagogy

“…A growing body of feminist scholarship, engaged in experimental modes of research, foregrounds a concern with materiality and affect (Blaise et al, 2016;Hohti, 2018;Holmes & Jones, 2016;Osgood & Robinson, 2019;Sandvik, 2010;St.Pierre & Jackson, 2014;Taylor et al, 2013). The potential of taking up creative and uncertain research practices demonstrated by this growing field of enquiry acted as an inspiration to investigate what carrier-bag practices of storytelling (Haraway, 2004, p. 127) might offer to this study.…”

“…Some passages are presented in italics; which can be read as diffractive moves throughout the article. Haraway (2004Haraway ( , 2016 offers SF as a research philosophy, inspiring researchers to make use of methodological entrances and experimental practices (Blaise, Hamm, & Iorio, 2016;Taylor, Blaise, & Giugni, 2013, Osgood, 2019. We take SF-philosophy as both a concept to understand research, and a tool to assist us in analysing groupwork processes.…”

Production and Products of Preschool Documentation: Entanglements of children, things, and templates

“…An example of this is to question that observation takes place only through vision and hearing, and realise that affect, such as thinking/feeling, is also included in observation (Otterstad & Nordbrønd, 2015). Also Blaise, Hamm and Iorio (2016) rethink what observation is about, not by questioning the use of the senses, but rather through presenting different ways of documenting in preschool. They argue that pedagogical documentation, pedagogical narration, and, especially, creating 'lively stories' (p. 9) can be ways of moving away from observational practices that presuppose the possibility of obtaining knowledge about children through objective observations and moving towards practices that are able to also take into account 'human and more-than-human encounters' (p. 39).…”

“…Lively stories, as presented in the article by Blaise, Hamm and Iorio (2016) (see Pedagogical Documentation), are principally suggested as a way of working with ecological issues in preschool. But what if lively stories could be a way of working with anything, and everything?…”

“…This results in a shift in focus towards including rather than distancing the teacher. Through a further shift, Blaise, Hamm and Iorio (2016) introduce 'lively stories' (p. 39) as a way of also including 'the more-than-human (i.e., plants and animals)' (p. 35), which they claim 'will help us understand how "we" are entangled with all sorts of forces, elements, and species beyond just the child' (p. 39). They propose this as one way of working with (or teaching about) ecological concerns (which is also one of the subjects addressed in the Swedish curriculum for preschool).…”