Talking to Young Children About Race: A Critical Look at Drawing With Children

• In Event: 63.087 - Sheraton Roundtable Session 11 - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 63.087-6 - Cultivating Democratic Spaces in Education: Eliciting Children's Voices Using Multimodal Approaches

Abstract

This roundtable session will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of utilizing drawing as a way to seek out young children’s views, in particular their views regarding race. The presentation will be based on a project funded by the federal government of Canada entitled “Can we talk about race?” (CWTAR). In the CWTAR project, we used drawings not as a source of data, but rather as a means to facilitate conversation and make participants feel more comfortable by having a task to focus on (MacNaughton & Davis, 2009).

Participants were asked to draw a self-portrait, using a mirror for help if desired, and a picture of a friend. While each child drew, the interviewer asked a related question, for example, “What color is your skin?” “What color hair does your friend have?” “Is there another color of skin that you would like to have?”. We discovered that some White children chose a light beige marker to draw their skin, but did not know what to name the color; others identified their skin as “white” and then felt some confusion over the lack of a white marker. However, while we had assumed that drawing during the interview process would be an appealing task for the children and make them feel comfortable, this turned out not to be true for all participants. Most were attracted by the new, ‘good’ markers and the stand-up mirror we brought to the interviews, and many seemed to genuinely enjoy working on their drawings while talking to the interviewer. Yet, a few seemed anxious about the request to draw. Although we told the children they did not have to participate, and were vigilant for verbal and non-verbal signs that they did not wish to start or continue the interview, we failed to explicitly provide them with the option to participate without drawing. Offering choices to children regarding how they participate respects them as complex individuals; relying on broad assumptions such as ‘all children like to draw’ can create an uncomfortable experience for some participants. Critical Race Theory (CRT) and the sociology of childhood are the theoretical frameworks that undergird this work.

Author

• Rachel Carson Berman, Ryerson University