Using Digital Images to Foster Resistance in Early Childhood Classrooms

• In Event: Anti-Racism in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

There is an infinite amount of research that addresses the impacts of interactive digital technology in early childhood classrooms (Erstad et al., 2019; Wohlwend, 2015). However, few scholars have examined young children’s perceptions of whiteness, and how students use digital technology to empower their racial and cultural identity and to counter whiteness. The current study uses Critical Race Feminism (CRF) to understand both decision-making and analysis of digital images made by the young participants. Rooted in Critical Race Theory (Ladson-Billings, 1995), Critical Race Feminism (Wing, 1997) acknowledges the multidimensional construct of Black womanhood (Berry, 2010). CRF has been used to analyze the discipline practices among Black girls in school (Evans-Winters & Esposito, 2010; Hines-Datiri & Carter Andrews, 2017). However, there is great value in the application of CRF as I, a Black woman, analyze the interactions and perceptions of two young Black children’s use of digital technology. CRF is organized by four central tenets: intersectionality, antiessentialism, multidisciplinarity, and praxis. Using a Black feminist lens allows me to be self-reflective through personal narratives and storytelling. Through these notions of storytelling and reflexivity, Black researchers can construct new racialized understandings and knowledge (Gillborn, 2008; Love, 2004). CRF is a useful critical lens as this framework acknowledges the complexity of Black children’s lived experiences, recognizing that race, class, and gender are “socially constructed divisions and markers of power that may enter into the structuring of group life” (Scott, 2002, p. 401). This remains relevant as I examine the power dynamics at play in an urban charter school. Through digital drawing and editing, the current study shows how two young Black children critically examine their identity and design representative digital images of themselves. The determination and self-discipline required to design a digital image within a coding software is a feat. The mere fact that two eight-year-olds created self-images that they could identify with is nothing less than remarkable. This study also uniquely captures how both students and the researcher encourage the creation of digital materials that reflect racially and culturally rich images. These interactions and digital creations showcase how two Black children examine and dismantle whiteness in early childhood classrooms.

Author

• Nakisha D. Whittington, Stanford University