ABSTRACT
In Chapter 4, gender and care are analyzed with/in several child-doll encounters that emerged in the study and are considered diffractively with other doll stories near and far from the classroom. The chapter explores the abundance of dolls and their expected role within early childhood settings, both historically and currently in dominant Western early years practices. “Doll troubles,” including gendered assumptions and critiques related to nurturance, are considered, and dolls’ complexity is further explored through their materiality in three “knotty” tales of plasticity, infancy, and diversity.
