Democratizing Creative Early Educational Experiences: A Matter of Racial Justice

Abstract

Inquiring into the democratization of creative early educational experiences through the lens of the politics of belonging, this review of research asks: What does research reveal about creative early educational experiences as they pertain to history, race, and justice? Seeking to better understand the racialization of creative early educational experiences, this review undertakes a transformative justice in education approach, attending to the historical roots of the contemporary racialized politics of belonging. Despite the creativity, improvisation, and imagination displayed historically by Black, Indigenous, and other Communities of Color, findings underscore how creative educational experiences prioritize Eurocentric onto-epistemologies, (re)inscribing inequitable schooling. Creative disruption and Black futurities offer two possible pathways to disrupt the legacy of racism in U.S. early schooling.