Following watery relations in early childhood pedagogies

Abstract

Working methodologically and theoretically with the hydro-logics of bodies of water, this article addresses the limitations of humanistic perspectives on water play in early childhood classrooms, and proposes pedagogies of watery relations. The article traces the fluid, murky, surging, creative, unpredictable specificities of bodies of water that enter an early childhood classroom during a collaborative ethnographic project with young children and early childhood educators.

“Rain, Rain, Go Away!” Engaging Rain Pedagogies in Practices With Children: From Water Politics to Environmental Education

“…As climate change intensifies, items like plastics are being swept away and are able to travel farther as tsunamis and hurricanes become larger and their effects greater (Earle & Glover, 2009). Climate-related issues require an engagement with the world that goes far beyond humancentric tendencies to repair the past or salvage the future (Neimanis & Walker, 2014) and instead focus on our collective relations to the world (Haraway, 2002;Neimanis, 2009;Pacini-Ketchabaw & Clark, 2016;Rooney, 2018). But in order to think alongside water, and alongside weather, we need to explore the ways in which water (as it relates to rain) has been conceptualized and worked with in childhood practices.…”

“…In responding to current times marked by drastic climate change, pollution, and dwindling water resources that sit within heavily bounded networks of historical, social, and political contexts (Food, Water, Energy Nexus, 2016;Mudavanhu et al, 2015;Pacini-Ketchabaw, 2017;Shiva, 2002), ecological action of young people is a concern. How young people think about, understand, and engage in these ecological matters can offer a great deal in understanding how to become ethical beings that engage responsibly in dealing with 21 st -century concerns as they relate to climate change (Blaise, Hamm, & Iorio, 2017;Pacini-Ketchabaw & Clark, 2016). Children's responses to ecological matters help us to think differently about our daily practices in the more-than-human world, in ways that move beyond human-centered logics and supremacy.…”

“…As educators realize that we are watered bodies and we realize water's potential to transform us, thinking with water becomes an important framework to guide our practices. It is in this thinking that we can better attend to water crises that entangle with our daily lives, and work toward a future that sustains watery relations among humans, nonhumans, and living and nonliving materials (Chen et al, 2013;Pacini-Ketchabaw & Clark, 2016). Our bodies' connection and intra-relations with water as manifested through rain is an additional piece as we consider becoming weathered bodies (Rooney, 2018).…”

“…Traditional practices with water in early childhood tend to see water as a resource that needs to be controlled and is used to promote children's development (Gross, 2012;Pacini-Ketchabaw & Clark, 2016). Water is housed in small bins or larger water tables to encourage creative play, where children can simultaneously learn about things like buoyancy, porosity and evaporation.…”

“…When we acknowledge that we are all watered bodies, we are able to take on more responsibility in our ecological relationships with water (Mies & Shiva, 1993). In practice, this might mean looking at other ways in which water is within the classroom-seeing the ways that water lives within our practices (Pacini-Ketchabaw & Clark, 2016). Therefore, an understanding and engagement with water that considers our bodies in relation to the water of the planet requires a movement past the developmental logics in specific childcare practices (Pacini-Ketchabaw & Clark, Taylor & Blaise, 2014.…”