An exploration of young children’s ethnic identities as communities of practice

Bibliographic Data

ID11166608
AuthorsIan Barron (0000-0002-6236-9810, a Manchester Metropolitan University , UK, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume28
Issue6
Pages739-752
Publication date2007-11-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0142-5692 • E-ISSN: 1465-3346
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01425690701610001
OpenAlexW1964873315
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited36

This study is concerned with experiences of ethnic identity amongst a group of three-year-old and four-year-old children, four-fifths of whom are of Pakistani heritage and the remainder of white indigenous heritage. Focused on a nursery school in the United Kingdom, the study explores the relationship between the individual and the social and cultural, initially in the home and then as the children start nursery school. An ethnographic approach is used to record the children's daily experiences and relationships as contexts where they reveal, shape and reshape who they are. Children's ethnic identities are explored in relation to boundaries where different communities of practice collide, alongside other aspects such as gender and sexuality and under the influence of factors such as power and religion. What appears to emerge is a sense of ethnic identity as social practice and performance rather than as the result of maturation or of internal cognitive development

Archaeology · Ethnic group · Geography · Media studies · Metropolitan area · Pedagogy · Sociology · Anthropology · Critical Race Theory in Education · Early Childhood Education and Development · Education and experiences of immigrants and refugees · Gender Studies

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