Thinking Otherwise: ‘Bicultural’ hybridities in early childhood education in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

As we become more overtly aware of the embedded historical memories (O’Loughlin, 2001) that underpin our conscious theorising,our reflections cause us to re-consider long-held assumptions, re-minding ourselves of our complicities and non-complicities and our potential to re-shape our own subjectivities in relation to deepening insights and openness to alternate ways of being, knowing, and doing. We come to scrutinise our comfort with positions of privilege previously unconsciously validated through our perpetuation of Western knowledges and tools (Cannella & Viruru, 2004). Thus begins an ongoing process of reflexive change which is embodied, enacted and spiritually underpinned, rather than operating at a cosmetic programmatic level. This intra-personal re-consideration of demeanour, disposition and direction, is integral to generating possibilities for deepening the provision of symbolic worlds being validated and accessed by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children within our educational settings.