Talkin’ Up and Speakin’ Out

P/B • 210mm x 280mm • 292 Pages
ISBN 9781876138318

Aboriginal and Multicultural Voices in Early Childhood

Aboriginal (Indigenous) and multicultural issues are a significant part of everyday early childhood curriculum in Australia. When early childhood curriculum is inclusive, focused on diversity and difference, and politically engaged then social justice is possible. This book is the result of many experiences and conversations between the early childhood educators who have inscribed its pages with their yarns, stories and narratives. These examples of everyday practice show where they have struggled and at times succeeded in acting differently to tackle issues of social justice. The writers in this book follow in the footsteps of a number of early childhood activists who have enabled an ongoing conversation about social justice in everyday early childhood education.

“Australia has always been a multicultural continent. At least 350 nations of Indigenous Australians have lived here ‘since the beginning'”
(Townsend Cross, 2004, p.4).

This book is written by a diverse range of people and so it is suitable for a diverse audience. Each story in this book is written by an early childhood educator or early childhood activist including untrained, two-year TAFE trained, university qualified new graduates, and highly experienced early childhood educators. The stories in this book are not necessarily academic engagement with theories but instead a response to how early childhood educators used the work of researchers in practice.

Content:

Introduction
Talkin Up and Speakin Out – Miriam Giugni and Kerry Mundine

Constellation 1: Aboriginal/Whiteness
1. Flower Girl – Kerry Mundine
2. Exploring Whiteness in Early Childhood Education – Miriam Giugni, Kathryn Bown, Sophie Martin and Maria Pappas
3. Non-Aboriginal Parents Perspectives on Aboriginal Education in Early Childhood – Amanda Marr
4. Anatomy of Guitar – Miriam Giugni, Aunty Tracey Linn Bostock
5. Walking in Black and White – Adam Duncan

Constellation 2: Gender/Sexualities
1. Boys Cant Look After Babies: Gender Equity in an Aboriginal Preschool – Tracey Freeburn
2. Too Innocent to Learn About Two Mums – Vicki Harding
3. Cartooning Curriculum – Su Sher
4. Mummies are Beautiful – Prue, Lou and Darcy

Constellation 3: Ethnicity/Language
1. The Hidden Politics of Harmony Celebrations: Where Has All the Racism Gone? – Christina Ho
2. Complexities of Teaching Greek in an English Speaking Classroom – Voula Kastoumis
3. Fast Plastic Food, Fast Multiculuralism: Prepackaged Early Childhood Education – Rebecca Whit
4. Urban Bush Tucker and Whispers in the Sand – Tracey Linn Bostock

Constellation 4: Ability
1. Let the Other be the Other: Maybe we Dont Need to be the Same – Jill McLachlan
3. Thinking Differently About Disability in Early Childhood: The Story of a Mountain ClimberLoraine Madden
4. Ready for Care? – Mariam Christodoulos
5. Whats So Good About Being Special? Disabilities and the Politics of Exclusion – Barbel Winter
6. He is Our Beautiful Son – Alicia Flack-Kone, Cheikh Kone and Kura Flack-Kone
7. Shut Up and Kisses – Sharon Jerome King

Constellation 5: Refugee
1. Inclusions and Exclusions: Coming to Australia – Amrit Versha and Dominic Fitzsimmons
2. Contrasting Childhoods: Rethinking the Image of the Child – Trish Highfield and Alicia Flack
3. Refugees on Gamilaraay Land – Louise Cave

Constellation 6: Spirituality/Religion
1. Tending to Community – Leonie McNamara 2. Diwali/Deepavali – Savithri Madakasira
3. Stepping Stones – Tracey Linn Bostock
4. But You Dont Look Like a Jew – Sylvia Turner
5. What is the Real Name for a Muslim? Reflections of a Muslim Director in an Early Childhood Centre – Sene Gide
6. My Journey in Faith – Izelda Sore

Gardens
Gumbramorra Creek Reconciliation Garden
Wilkins Green
Elements of the garden – Drawings by Su Sher
Finding my way – Poem by Leonie McNamara

Activism and Politics
Talkin Up and Speakin Out: Activism and Politics in Early Childhood Education for Equity and Social Justice – Miriam Giugni.