Early childhood in postcolonial Australia : children's contested identities / by Prasanna Srinivasan. [electronic resource]

"Early Childhood in Postcolonial Australia" explores how cultural identities are contested in postcolonial spaces by subjects of nation, color and culture in early childhood settings. The book uses participatory action research methodology to gather how language was used in early childhood settings to "speak" of the interaction between the cultural groups of "self" and "other" in Australia. Ganga, the largest river in India is used as a metaphor by the author to guide the narrators and the narratives through multiple theories to surface their subjective attachments to such identities. By doing so, it provides a dialogic form of discourse analysis for researchers and early childhood educators, who want to critically inquire how cultural identities are contested by the "Power" of "whiteness" ideology in postcolonial countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, UK and USA.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Introduction: Who am I? Who is my Ganga? -- Ganga : Our beginnings, our context, our stories -- Boundaries speak : othering, Othering, øthering Australian/not Australian -- Complex(ion) speak : I am white, I am Australian; Pookey is Black, she is not Australian -- Forbidden Fs speak : You know what Australians think if you say you are a Muslim -- Tongue ties speak : I am Australian, I speak Australian -- Terra strikes speak : We can't let everyone in, this is our country, shouldn't we have a choice -- The "whiteness truth" : We have to do something -- Epilogue: But remember she is saying, "I don't like brown skin, I am white" -- Appendix -- Ganga's key : "boundary speakers."

COPYRIGHT NOT covered - Click this link to request copyright permission:

https://lib.ciu.edu/copyright-request-form