Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Education

Supervisor

Pacini-Ketchabaw, Veronica

Abstract

This thesis reimagines early childhood education within the context of the Brazilian Anthropocene. Engaging with place and stories through Black-Indigenous thinking and common worlding frameworks, it confronts the Anthropocene’s colonial and ecological violence while inviting pedagogical practices that resist Western-centric narratives of development and order. By centering the lives and experiences of children in Olinda Nova do Maranhão, Brazil, the thesis seeks to re/de/compose worlds through encounters with other humans, more than humans, materialities, and stories that carry the legacies of the place.

Following Black trans/travesti radical imagination alongside common worlds, I create an assemblage of theories, refusing damage-based narratives and instead amplifying the ordinary moments of joy, resistance, and creativity that children bring into their lifeworlds. Pedagogical practices emerge as collective, relational acts that honour local knowledges and stories, fostering possibilities for co-creating livable presents and futures amid the ruptures of ongoing colonialism, anti-Blackness, and climate collapse.

Through a careful, situated inquiry, the thesis acknowledges the impossibilities of neutrality, embracing a politics of refusal and care. It challenges the binaries of modernity, proposing a pedagogy that is both responsive to and entangled with the histories and futures of the land and its inhabitants. Crafting pedagogical antiracist dispositions that sustain hope and confluences in the face of ongoing colonial violence and climate collapse, the thesis searches out and creates possibilities for more livable futures in early childhood education.

Summary for Lay Audience

This thesis explores how early childhood education can be reimagined in the Brazilian Anthropocene, a place and time marked by significant environmental and social challenges. It draws on local stories, Black-Indigenous perspectives, and community connections to address the impacts of colonialism and environmental damage. Centered on the lives of children in Olinda Nova do Maranhão, Brazil, the research looks at how educational practices can resist Western ideas of progress and create new ways of learning that honour the local culture and environment. Instead of focusing on negative stories, the thesis highlights moments of joy, creativity, and resistance, seeing these as acts of resilience. It argues that education should be relational and rooted in the land’s history, with learning experiences connected to the local community and their environment. By embracing a stance of refusal and care, the thesis proposes new possibilities for fostering hope and more livable futures for children in a world shaped by ongoing colonialism and climate struggles.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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