Collaborative Cross-Cultural Research Methodologies in Early Care and Education Contexts

Drawing from an array of international scholars’ practical experiences, Collaborative Cross-Cultural Research Methodologies in Early Care and Education Contexts demonstrates how to conduct collaborative cross-cultural research and investigates the field’s nuances and dilemmas. The book focuses on rich, real-life attempts to negotiate and develop culturally sensitive theoretical and conceptual frameworks, equivalent studies, and systems of relationships across distances, languages, ethics, and practices. The models presented consider the possible political and moral implications for all participants in cross-cultural research endeavors, including issues of race, colonization, immigration, indigenous populations, and more.

Foreword (Amita Gupta) Chapter 1: Introduction: Rethinking cross-cultural research methodology through a collaborative lens (Samara Madrid Akpovo, Mary Jane Moran, and Robyn Brookshire) Chapter 2: Fortuitous invitations, and possible ways forward: Early childhood education, care, and development (ECD) in the Majority World (Alan Pence) Chapter 3: Two decades of collaboration: Decolonizing cross-cultural research (Kagendo Mutua and Beth Blue Swadener) Chapter 4: Narrative methodologies: Challenging and elevating cross-cultural complexities (Sonja Arndt and Marek Tesar) Chapter 5: Collaboration as a healing and decolonizing research tool: The narratives of three early childhood researchers (Sapna Thapa, Samara Madrid Akpovo, and Debbie Young) Chapter 6: Critical reflections on the positionality of human rights educators working in diverse contexts(Shabnam Koirala-Azad, Katie Zanoni, and Amy Argenal) Chapter 7: Complexities of insider-outsider positioning in a comparative study of early childhood teacher education programs (Anna Kirova, Christine Massing, Ailie Cleghorn, and Larry Prochner) Chapter 8: Researcher reflections on early childhood partnerships with immigrant and refugee communities (Rebecca Georgis, Rebecca Gokiert, and Anna Kirova) Chapter 9: Co-Constructed research design: Lessons on equivalency and teacher participation in a US-Italian professional development study (Mary Jane Moran, Robyn Brookshire, Chiara Bove, Piera Braga, and Susanna Mantovani) Chapter 10: Voices of children: Intercultural collaborations in understanding and documenting the meaning of children’s rights through dialogue and video (John Nimmo, Ana Marcilio, Angela Fowler, and Vashima Goyal) Chapter 11: "You, us and a bus" – Exploring analysis as cross-cultural collaboration in Fiji (Pauline Harris, Cynthia Brock, Alexandra Diamond, Elspeth McInnes, Bec Neill, Ufemia Camaitoga, and Mere Krishna) Chapter 12: Understanding intergenerational experiences of young children and older adults through cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary construction of knowledge (Simone DeVore, Jobita Anguisaca Muñoz, Anja Leoa, and Taylor McDarison)

Samara Madrid Akpovo is Associate Professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. Mary Jane Moran is Professor and interim Department Head in the Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. Robyn Brookshire is the Director of the Early Learning Center for Research and Practice at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA.