Educating for Social Justice in Early Childhood

List of Contributors  Foreword [Cinthya Saavedra]  Acknowledgements  Series Introduction [Nicola Yelland] Introduction [Shirley Kessler and Beth Blue Swadener]  Part I: Voices of Children, Teachers and Families  1.  Immigrant Children in Arizona: Social Justice Implications for Education in the Borderlands [Angeles Maldonado, Beth Blue Swadener and Casey Khaleesi]  2. Countering Color-Blindness in Early Childhood Education: Elevating the Embodied Experiences, Perspectives, and Voices of Black Women Educators [Kia S. Rideaux and Michelle Salazar Pérez]  3. Children’s Voices and Gender Pedagogies for Equity In and Out of Early Childhood Classrooms [Kylie Smith]  4. Early Childhood Teacher Certification as a Site for the Re-Production of Racial and Cultural Injustice [Mariana Souto-Manning, Gail Buffalo, and Ayesha Rabadi-Raol]  Part II: Social Justice in the Classroom: Democratic and Anti-bias Practices  5. Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Democratic Education in Early Childhood [Shirley A. Kessler]  6. "She doesn’t want to be a beautiful princess!": Language, Power, and Teaching for Democracy in the Early Childhood Classroom [Dana Frantz Bentley with Betty Chan]  7. Activism in their Own Right: Children’s Participation in Social Justice Movements [Lacey Peters]  8. The Cultural Politics of Childhood Education for Democracy in Reggio Emilia’s Servizi dell’Infanzia [Rebecca S. New]  Part III: Way Forward: Stories of hope and possibility  9. Out and About: Practicing Hope through Research [Jeanne Marie Iorio and Clifton S. Tanabe]  10. "What’s Love Got To do?": Enacting the Beloved Community Through Early Childhood Education [Mara Sapon-Shevin]  11. Social Justice in Early Education and Child Care: "What Is" and "What Ought to Be?" [Marianne N. Bloch]  12. Equality and Democratic Education Evaluation: A Way Forward for Teachers [Shirley A. Kessler]  Afterword [William Ayers]

Biography

Shirley A. Kessler is a retired Professor of Early Childhood Education at National-Louis University, USA.

Beth Blue Swadener is Professor of Justice Studies and Social and Cultural Pedagogy at Arizona State University, USA.

"This is a very well-timed book in an age when democracy and institutions that are supposed to　respect　civil rights and social justice are undermined. With valuable knowledge and a critique of how neo-liberal　policies have, in a subtle way, influenced young children and their families’ lives, the authors also offer significant examples of how early childhood educators may be able to work in a more just and ethical way for all."　

Gunilla Dahlberg, Professor Emerita, Department of Child and Youth Studies, Stockholm University

"A most critical time for social justice in a person's life is during their early childhood years. Today, young children or their parental representative are denied recognition, economic fairness, and unhampered representation. Shirley Kessler and Beth Blue Swadener have assembled a distinguished international team of authors to illuminate a range of social, political, economic, and environmental justice issues and show how early childhood educators, researchers, and children themselves can play a role in confronting injustice. Besides being an eye-opening and engaging personal read, this book is one you’ll want your colleagues and students to read, too."　 　　

Carl A. Grant, Hoefs Bascom Professor, University Wisconsin-Madison