Critical Consciousness, Social Justice and Resistance: The Experiences of Young Children Living on the Streets in India

318 Pages·2020·5.018 MB·English

by  Zinnia Mevawalla

21 Zinnia Mevawalla
Critical Consciousness, Social Justice and Resistance: The Experiences of Young Children Living
on the Streets in India reports on an investigation of critical consciousness and social
justice conducted with young children living on the streets in Mumbai, India. The
book explores how children—through complex, layered and diverse forms of resistant Critical Consciousness,
C
behaviours—struggled against, challenged, and at times, transformed the experiences r
i
of structural inequality, injustice and oppression they often faced in their everyday t
i
lives. Drawing on insights from critical pedagogy, the study argues that educators c
a Social Justice
can work in solidarity with children, families and communities to transform—rather
l
than simply adapt—to situations of oppression that exist both within and outside of C
educational contexts. It is argued that practitioners and policy makers open genuine o
n
spaces for educational endeavours that value children’s dignity, understand resistant and Resistance
s
behaviour as a form of communication, and focus on transformative resistance as a c
praxis of citizenship. io
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The Experiences of Young Children Living on the Streets in India
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Zinnia Mevawalla is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University s
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of Canberra. Her research concentrates on understanding how initiatives in the early
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www.peterlang.com Cover image: ©iStock.com/AmitRane1975
9781433168444_cvr_eu_SC.indd All Pages 27-Feb-20 19:38:18
21 Zinnia Mevawalla
Critical Consciousness, Social Justice and Resistance: The Experiences of Young Children Living
on the Streets in India reports on an investigation of critical consciousness and social
justice conducted with young children living on the streets in Mumbai, India. The
book explores how children—through complex, layered and diverse forms of resistant Critical Consciousness,
C
behaviours—struggled against, challenged, and at times, transformed the experiences r
i
of structural inequality, injustice and oppression they often faced in their everyday t
i
lives. Drawing on insights from critical pedagogy, the study argues that educators c
a Social Justice
can work in solidarity with children, families and communities to transform—rather
l
than simply adapt—to situations of oppression that exist both within and outside of C
educational contexts. It is argued that practitioners and policy makers open genuine o
n
spaces for educational endeavours that value children’s dignity, understand resistant and Resistance
s
behaviour as a form of communication, and focus on transformative resistance as a c
praxis of citizenship. io
u
The Experiences of Young Children Living on the Streets in India
s
n
e
Zinnia Mevawalla is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at the University s
s
of Canberra. Her research concentrates on understanding how initiatives in the early
,

years can support participation, inclusion and equity for all. S
o
c
i
a
l

J
u
s
t
i
c
e

a
n
d

R
e
s
i
s
t
a
n
c
e

|

M
e
v
a
w
a
l
l
a
Cover image: ©iStock.com/AmitRane1975
9781433168444_cvr_eu_SC.indd All Pages 27-Feb-20 19:38:18
Critical Consciousness,
Social Justice
and Resistance
Narrative, Dialogue,
and the Political
Production of Meaning
Michael A. Peters & Peter McLaren
Series Editors
Vol. 21

The Education and Struggle series is part of the Peter Lang Education list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Zinnia Mevawalla

Critical Consciousness,
Social Justice
and Resistance

The Experiences of Young Children
Living on the Streets in India

PETER LANG
New York  Bern  Berlin
Brussels  Vienna  Oxford  Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Mevawalla, Zinnia, author.
Title: Critical consciousness, social justice and resistance: the experiences
of young children living on the streets in India / Zinnia Mevawalla.
Other titles: Young thinkers without borders
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2020.
Series: Education and struggle: narrative, dialogue,
and the political production of meaning; vol. 21
ISSN 2168-6432 (print) | ISSN 2168-6459 (online)
Revision of author’s thesis (doctoral)—Macquarie
University, 2016, titled Young thinkers without borders: critical
consciousness, social justice and resistance: the experiences of young
street children in Mumbai, India.
Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019049877 | ISBN 978-1-4331-6843-7 (hardback: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4331-6844-4 (paperback: alk. paper) | ISBN 978-1-4331-6840-6 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-6841-3 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-6842-0 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Street children—Education—India—Mumbai—Case studies. |
Street children—India—Mumbai—Psychology—Case studies. | Early
childhood education—Social aspects—India—Mumbai—Case studies. |
Child development—Social aspects—India—Mumbai—Case studies. |
Defense mechanisms (Psychology) in children—India—Mumbai—Case
studies. | Social justice and education—India—Mumbai—Case studies. |
Critical pedagogy—India—Mumbai—Case studies.
Classification: LCC LC4097.I42 M86 | DDC 306.430954—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019049877
DOI 10.3726/16302

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
© 2020 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York
29 Broadway, 18th floor, New York, NY 10006
www.peterlang.com

All rights reserved.
Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
For the ‘troublemakers’ that struggle for dignity with integrity—those
children who are the most profound and powerful teachers.

Contents

List of Figures xiii
Acknowledgements xv
Permissions xvii
List of Abbreviations xix
Introduction: We Are the Stories We Tell 1
1 Critical Education for Critical Times 5
Education and Ideology 6
Education and Critical Consciousness 7
Dangerous Education for Dangerous Times: A Case for Critical
Consciousness and Social Justice Education
in the Early Years 8
Who Are the Children Living on the Street? 10
Why Research with Young Children Living on the Street? 11
Mumbai, India: The Research Context 12
India 12
Mumbai 14
Central Research Questions 15
viii | Contents
Transparency: The Researcher as a Human Instrument 16
My Story 17
The Importance of a Book on Critical Consciousness
and Social Justice in the Early Years 22
Book Structure 22
2 Theory for Knowing and Changing the System 33
Critical Pedagogy: What Is It? Where Did It Come From? 33
Critical Pedagogy and the Purpose of Education 36
Knowing the System 36
Characteristics of Critical Pedagogy 37
Education Is Political 38
Ideology 39
Hegemony 40
Historicity of Knowledge 41
Regimes of Truth 42
Micropractices of Power 43
Developmentally Appropriate Practices 44
Political Economy 45
Culture, Race and Gender 47
Changing the System 49
Resistance and Counter-hegemonic Discourses 50
Resistance Theory 50
Critiques of Resistance Theory 53
Ideological Critique 54
Critical Consciousness 55
Praxis 55
Dialogue and Problem-Posing Education 55
Repositioning 56
Critiques of Critical Pedagogy 56
Justifying the Use of Critical Pedagogy to the Research
Reported on in This Book 58
Critical Pedagogy and the Indian Context 60
Conclusion 64
3 Critical Consciousness and Social Justice in Early Childhood 73
Literature Review Search Methods and Inclusion Criteria 74
Understanding Critical Consciousness 75