This book engages with theories of hauntology, feminist new materialisms and posthuman theories to disrupt contemporary thinking in early childhood education (ECE). It explores how these theories can enable us to see how social, economic, environmental and gendered disparities and injustices materialise in ECE settings. Jo Albin-Clark introduces the idea of data-ghosts, to describe lingering and difficult-to-explain data fragments that come out of research with young children. The chapters show how a hauntological lens can deepen our understandings of a range of issues and themes in ECE such as data-analysis, neoliberalism and developmentalism. The book draws on the work of theorists including Barad, Braidotti, Derrida, Gordon and Haraway and contributes to the growing early childhood scholarship about how research praxis can embrace playfulness and experimentation.

Jo Albin-Clark is Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Edge Hill University, UK.