Researcher Identity Negotiations: A Narrative Inquiry of Tensions Within Early Childhood Home Learning Environments

• In Event: 53.081 - Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: 53.081-4 - Positionality on Trial: Examining Global Tensions of Privilege While Performing Humanizing Research With Minoritized Populations

Abstract

Hong Kong (HK) places significant importance on academic attainment (Wong & Rao, 2015). School systems require children to speak fluently in Cantonese, Putonghua, and English and have written proficiency in English and Putonghua. Entry into desirable primary schools is largely influenced by language skills children obtain by age six. HK parents expose their children to academically rigid curriculums in early childhood to reach these goals. However, HK’s early education system occurs in the absence of any public provisions for early childhood education (Yuen & Grieshaper, 2009). Private business owners determine admission and fees. Given HK’s high cost of living coupled with an entirely privatized early education system, issues of access occur amongst families of various socioeconomic statuses. Further, the majority of early learning services are offered in Cantonese or Chinese, posing further challenges to parents and children without these language abilities. This combination of factors creates a setting where children’s access to quality early education is tied directly to services their parents can either pay for or provide independently.

To understand the impact of these experiences on parent-child relationships within the home learning environment, I engaged in a narrative inquiry study. When using narrative inquiry as a methodology, we are “…adopting a particular view of experience as phenomenon under study” (Connelly & Clandinin, 2006, p.479). Huber, Murphy, and Clandinin (2011) described school and familial curriculum making as how individuals “negotiate and navigate their unfolding understandings of themselves in their homes, communities, and schools” (p.2). Using a narrative inquiry framework, Huber et al. refer to Connelly and Clandinin (1990) ‘stories to live by’ as an in-depth way of understanding 'experience' and Lugones (1987) ‘worlds’ to capture the separate landscapes of school and familial curriculum making. Over the course of a six-month study, data analysis and interpretation occurred over several stages commencing with the move from field texts to research texts. Through collating information shared by the parents, three key themes emerged: (1) motives (2) values (3) their child’s early learning experiences.

Both parents shared similar English language aspirations for their child’s literacy development despite their limited access to early education opportunities they could afford. The parents limited income and their inability to speak the dominant languages of Cantonese, English, or Cantonese, created a tension in their narratives of feeling isolated and racially discriminated against by HK kindergartens. Realizing their/my skin tone wasn’t always welcomed by the dominant culture, and it was my position of privilege that buffered me from their experiences made me feel isolated. I was forced to recognize the privileges I carried as an African-American while standing in the midst of their experiences as Africans. Walking alongside them required a significant amount of effort. Once I understood the story I lived by could have been the same as theirs had I been born in Africa and not the United States.

Author

• Keisha L Siriboe, The University of Hong Kong