Unearthing gender violence with/in kindergarten play environments

ABSTRACT This paper implements a feminist new material lens to illuminate how the spaces and objects of play are actively involved in the enactment and normalisation of gender violence in kindergarten. Findings from data collected in two Canadian kindergartens show how the familiar and mundane spatial-material arrangements of play, namely the use of blocks, implicitly propagated hierarchal gender divisions in children’s play and facilitated explicit acts of material violence by boys against girls. Drawing on Blaise’s (Blaise, M. 2005. Playing it Straight: Uncovering Gender Discourses in the Early Childhood Classroom. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, Blaise, M. 2014. “Interfering with Gendered Development: A Timely Intervention.” International Journal of Early Childhood 46: 317–326.) concept of post-developmentalism, the author concludes with a discussion on the possibilities of feminist new material frameworks in early learning and for re-thinking current play-based practices.