Race, gender and critical reflexivity in research with young children

This chapter focuses on some of the ways in which race and gender can impact upon research with young children. It provides a critically reflexive account of a previous ethnographic study I conducted in a multi-ethnic, inner-city primary school in England that examined the peer cultures of 5-6-year-old children and the place of race and gender within these (see Connolly 1998). The arguments presented in this chapter are built upon three core premises. While each of these premises is well recognized and accepted, it will be shown in this chapter that, when they are drawn together, they offer a new and important way of understanding the power dynamics that underpin research with young children.