Becoming-worldly-wit(h)nesses: from Social Justice towards Worldly Justice in Early Childhood Research
Book chapter
Osgood, J., Scarlet, R.R. and Becoming-Worldly-Wit(h)nesses Research Collective 2026. Becoming-worldly-wit(h)nesses: from Social Justice towards Worldly Justice in Early Childhood Research. in: Mimi, Michelle and Marek (ed.) The Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Handbook London, UK Palgrave Macmillan.
| Chapter title | Becoming-worldly-wit(h)nesses: from Social Justice towards Worldly Justice in Early Childhood Research |
|---|---|
| Authors | Osgood, J., Scarlet, R.R. and Becoming-Worldly-Wit(h)nesses Research Collective |
| Abstract | This chapter reconceptualizes Early Childhood Education research by mobilising a critical posthumanities framework that draws on the emergent story-worlding of an international research collective. The Becoming-Worldly-Wit(h)nesses collaboration brings together a group of educators and academics committed to reimagining ways to be in the world that refuse human exceptionalism. Emerging within a global context marked by neoliberalism, escalating gendered and transphobic violence, ecological precarity, and armed conflict, the chapter interrogates how pedagogical and research practices might respond ethically and politically to intersecting global crises as they surface in localised and everyday encounters. Moving beyond anthropocentric formulations of social justice, we offer the concept of worldly justice through the interrelation of becoming, worlding and wit(h)nessing. Over many months the collective generated and shared pedagogical narratives grounded in everyday, unspectacular encounters with the non/more-than human to foreground relationality, affect and materiality. Our story-worldings are analytic provocations that destabilise human exceptionalism and invite an ethical response-ability to engage with pedagogical moments afresh. Our goal is to cultivate multispecies solidarities and speculative openings that enact worldly justice. |
| Keywords | Worlding; Critical Posthumanities; Anthropocene Childhoods; Wit(h)nessing; Stories; Multispecies relations |
| Sustainable Development Goals | 10 Reduced inequalities |
| 13 Climate action | |
| 4 Quality education | |
| Middlesex University Theme | Creativity, Culture & Enterprise |
| Sustainability | |
| Research Group | Centre for Education Research and Scholarship (CERS) |
| Book title | The Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education Handbook |
| Editors | Mimi, Michelle and Marek |
| Book authors | Beth |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Place of publication | London, UK |
| Series | Critical Cultural Studies of Childhood |
| Publication dates | |
| 02 Nov 2026 | |
| Publication process dates | |
| Accepted | 20 Apr 2026 |
| Deposited | 22 Apr 2026 |
| Output status | Accepted |
| Accepted author manuscript | File Access Level Open |
| Language | English |
Permalink -
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/3681ww
Restricted files
Accepted author manuscript
Under embargo indefinitely
15
total views2
total downloads0
views this month0
downloads this month
Export as
Related outputs
It is time for other stories: troubling the science fact of developmental babyhood
Osgood, J. 2027. It is time for other stories: troubling the science fact of developmental babyhood. in: Sakr, M. and Osgood, J. (ed.) Postdevelopmental Approaches to Babyhood London, UK Bloomsbury Publishing.Re-imagining education in times of planetary crises: How transdisciplinary ecopedagogies come to matter [Editorial]
de Rijke, V. and Osgood, J. 2026. Re-imagining education in times of planetary crises: How transdisciplinary ecopedagogies come to matter [Editorial]. Global Studies of Childhood. 16 (2), pp. 95-97. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106261449349Beyond critique <=> towards creativity: revisiting 'professionalism' in early childhood education
Osgood, J., Westgaard Bjelkerud, A. and Andersen, E. 2026. Beyond critique <=> towards creativity: revisiting 'professionalism' in early childhood education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491261446071Re-storying anthropocene childhoods through non-innocent encounters with microbes
Osgood, J. and de Rijke, V. 2026. Re-storying anthropocene childhoods through non-innocent encounters with microbes. in: Osgood, J. (ed.) Postdevelopmental Approaches to Early Childhood Environmental Education London, UK Bloomsbury Publishing.Tunnelling through the anthropocene: making oddkin with a children’s picturebook
de Rijke, V. and Osgood, J. 2025. Tunnelling through the anthropocene: making oddkin with a children’s picturebook. Children's Literature in Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-025-09639-6Enacting arachnean ethics: refusing the ‘thought-out-project’ of early childhood environmental education through arts-based praxis
Osgood, J. and de Rijke, V. 2025. Enacting arachnean ethics: refusing the ‘thought-out-project’ of early childhood environmental education through arts-based praxis. Children's Geographies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2025.2550718Editorial
Osgood, J. 2025. Editorial. Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology. 16 (2). https://doi.org/10.7577/rerm.6387Beyond anthropocentric boundaries, childing as an embodied kind of praxis: a conversation with Jayne Osgood and Sid Mohandas
Osgood, J., Mohandas, S., Forte, M. and Barreiro, J. 2025. Beyond anthropocentric boundaries, childing as an embodied kind of praxis: a conversation with Jayne Osgood and Sid Mohandas. Matter: A Journal of New Materialist Research. 10, pp. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1344/jnmr.v10i.50503Mess with Jayne Osgood and Sid Mohandas
Osgood, J., Mohandas, S., de Rijke, V. and Sinker, R. 2025. Mess with Jayne Osgood and Sid Mohandas. in: de Rijke, V. and Sinker, R. (ed.) Challenging Contemporary Thinking on Play Springer. pp. 57-75Transdisciplinary ecopedagogies [Editorial]
Osgood, J. and de Rijke, V. 2025. Transdisciplinary ecopedagogies [Editorial]. Global Studies of Childhood. 15 (4), pp. 335-342. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106241304739Refusing perpetual mediation: playing in the undercommons
Osgood, J., de Rijke, V. and Maxwell, M. 2025. Refusing perpetual mediation: playing in the undercommons. in: Osgood, J. and de Rijke, V. (ed.) Postdevelopmental Approaches to Play London, UK Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 117-136How gender comes to matter: tracing matter, space, place, time and affect in early childhood research
Osgood, J. and Mohandas, S. 2025. How gender comes to matter: tracing matter, space, place, time and affect in early childhood research. in: Prioletta, J., Davies, A. and Smith, K. (ed.) Bloomsbury Handbook of Gender and Sexuality in Early Childhood London, UK Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 205-216Gender matters: respectful approaches to gender equity in primary school
Osgood, J. 2025. Gender matters: respectful approaches to gender equity in primary school. in: Cremin, T., Hendry, H. and Harrison, A. (ed.) Learning to Teach in the Primary School London, UK Routledge. pp. 421-432Childing: an ecopedagogy of refusal
Osgood, J. and Mohandas, S. 2024. Childing: an ecopedagogy of refusal. Global Studies of Childhood. 15 (4), pp. 343-362. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106241304744Editorial: Feminism(s) and the 'posts': towards new educational imaginaries and hope-full renewals
Taylor, C., Osgood, J., Bozalek, V., Geerts, E., Zhao, W. and Andersen, C.E. 2024. Editorial: Feminism(s) and the 'posts': towards new educational imaginaries and hope-full renewals. Gender and Education. 36 (8), pp. 819-829. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2024.2430190Exploring possibilities for gender to become otherwise: what do child-snail relations make possible?
Osgood, J. 2024. Exploring possibilities for gender to become otherwise: what do child-snail relations make possible? in: Gannon, S., Pasley, A. and Osgood, J. (ed.) Gender Un/bound: Traversing Educational Possibilities Routledge. pp. 307-321Bewildering early childhood ‘pioneers’
Osgood, J., Archer, N., Albin-Clark, J. and Mohandas, S. 2024. Bewildering early childhood ‘pioneers’ . Pedagogy, Culture and Society. 32 (4). https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2024.2355096Unlikely qualities of writing qualitatively: porous stories of thresholds, in-betweeness and the everyday
Osgood, J. and Hackett, A. 2024. Unlikely qualities of writing qualitatively: porous stories of thresholds, in-betweeness and the everyday. International Review of Qualitative Research. 17 (3), pp. 305-320. https://doi.org/10.1177/19408447241242425‘This thing that we do’: in pursuit of hope-full renewals through hydrofeminist scholarly praxis
Osgood, J. and Bozalek, V. 2024. ‘This thing that we do’: in pursuit of hope-full renewals through hydrofeminist scholarly praxis. Gender and Education. 36 (8), pp. 1013-1032. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2024.2325407Nest/ing: an emergent (un)methodology for becoming otherwise
Osgood, J. and Walsh, C 2024. Nest/ing: an emergent (un)methodology for becoming otherwise. Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714413.2023.2299519Down the back of a chair: what can a method of scrabbling with Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction offer conceptualisations of ‘the child’ in the Anthropocene?
de Rijke, V., Osgood, J. and Laura-Rosa 2023. Down the back of a chair: what can a method of scrabbling with Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction offer conceptualisations of ‘the child’ in the Anthropocene? in: Deszcz-Tryhubczak, J. and García-González, M. (ed.) Children’s Culture Studies After Childhood John Benjamins. pp. 152-170Feminist new materialist approaches to childhood studies
Mohandas, S. and Osgood, J. 2023. Feminist new materialist approaches to childhood studies. in: Montgomery, H. (ed.) Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies Oxford University Press (OUP).Arboreal Methodologies: the promise of getting lost (with feminist new materialism and Indigenous ontologies) for social studies
Osgood, J. and Axelsson, S. 2023. Arboreal Methodologies: the promise of getting lost (with feminist new materialism and Indigenous ontologies) for social studies. in: Varga, B., Monreal, T. and Christ, R. (ed.) Toward a Stranger and More Posthuman Social Studies New York Teachers College Press. pp. 93-109Arboreal methodologies: Getting lost to explore the potential of the non-innocence of ‘nature’
Osgood, J., Axelsson, S., Cavaliero, T., Hanniffy, M. and McDonnell, S. 2023. Arboreal methodologies: Getting lost to explore the potential of the non-innocence of ‘nature’. Occasional Paper Series. 2023 (50), pp. 113-129. https://doi.org/10.58295/2375-3668.1499Adventures requiring care and recklessness: a playful archive
Osgood, J. 2023. Adventures requiring care and recklessness: a playful archive. in: Mazzei, L. and Jackson, A. (ed.) Postfoundational Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry London, UK Routledge. pp. 101-118Down on the ground: the material memoir of the posthuman childhood researcher
Osgood, J. 2023. Down on the ground: the material memoir of the posthuman childhood researcher. in: Osgood, J. (ed.) Postdevelopmental Approaches to Childhood Research Observation London, UK Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 39-54mesh/work im/possibilities and inbetweening
Hofsess, B. and Osgood, J. 2022. mesh/work im/possibilities and inbetweening. Visual Arts Research. 48 (2), pp. 18-27. https://doi.org/10.5406/21518009.48.2.03Editorial
Otterstad, A.M., Osgood, J., Angell, M.L., Andersen, C.E. and Johansson, L. 2022. Editorial. Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology. 13 (2). https://doi.org/10.7577/rerm.5019Afterword [to New Images of Thought in the Study of Childhood Drawing]
Osgood, J. 2022. Afterword [to New Images of Thought in the Study of Childhood Drawing]. in: Trafi-Prats, L. and Schulte, C. (ed.) New Images of Thought in the Study of Childhood Drawing Cham Springer. pp. 175-178CODA: Seismic knots of (un)knowing "toddler"(s)
Kroeger, J., Persky, J. and Osgood, J. 2022. CODA: Seismic knots of (un)knowing "toddler"(s). Global Studies of Childhood. 12 (3), pp. 310-3016. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221117203'That's enough!' (But it wasn't): the generative possibilities of attuning to what else a tantrum can do
Osgood, J. and de Rijke, V. 2022. 'That's enough!' (But it wasn't): the generative possibilities of attuning to what else a tantrum can do. Global Studies of Childhood. 12 (3), pp. 235-248. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221117167Editorial: The spectacle of 'tantruming toddler': Reconfiguring child/hood(s) of the Capitalocene
Osgood, J., Kroeger, J. and Persky, J. 2022. Editorial: The spectacle of 'tantruming toddler': Reconfiguring child/hood(s) of the Capitalocene. Global Studies of Childhood. 12 (3), pp. 199-208. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106221117200Risking erasure? Posthumanist research practices and figurations of (the) child
Murris, K. and Osgood, J. 2022. Risking erasure? Posthumanist research practices and figurations of (the) child. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. 23 (3), pp. 208-219. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491221117761Grappling with the miseducation of Montessori: A feminist posthuman rereading of 'child' in early childhood contexts
Osgood, J. and Mohandas, S. 2022. Grappling with the miseducation of Montessori: A feminist posthuman rereading of 'child' in early childhood contexts. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood. 23 (3), pp. 302-316. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491221117222Crafting granular stories with child-like embodied, affective and sensory encounters that attune to the world's differential becoming
Osgood, J. and Odegard, N. 2022. Crafting granular stories with child-like embodied, affective and sensory encounters that attune to the world's differential becoming. Australian Journal of Environmental Education. 38 (3-4), pp. 227-241. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2022.11Portal-time and wanderlines: what does virusing-with make possible in childhood research?
Osgood, J., Andersen, C. and Otterstad, A. 2022. Portal-time and wanderlines: what does virusing-with make possible in childhood research? Reconceptualizing Educational Research Methodology. 13 (3), pp. 208-231. https://doi.org/10.7577/rerm.5138From multispecies tangles and Anthropocene muddles: what can lichen teach us about precarity and indeterminacy in early childhood
Osgood, J. 2022. From multispecies tangles and Anthropocene muddles: what can lichen teach us about precarity and indeterminacy in early childhood. in: Blyth, C. and Aslanian, T. (ed.) Children and the Power of Stories: Posthuman and Autoethnographic Perspectives in Early Childhood Education Singapore Springer. pp. 51-67In pursuit of worldly justice in early childhood education: bringing critique and creation into productive partnership for the public good
Osgood, J. 2021. In pursuit of worldly justice in early childhood education: bringing critique and creation into productive partnership for the public good. in: Ross, A. (ed.) Educational Research for Social Justice: Evidence and Practice from the UK Switzerland Springer.Queering understandings of how matter comes to matter in the baby room
Osgood, J. 2021. Queering understandings of how matter comes to matter in the baby room. in: Moran, L., Reilly, K. and Brady, B. (ed.) Narrating Childhood with Children and Young People: Diverse Contexts, Methods and Stories of Everyday Life London Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 213-236Interview with Jayne Osgood
Osgood, J., Semenec, P. and Diaz-Diaz, C. 2020. Interview with Jayne Osgood. in: Diaz-Diaz, C. and Semenec, P. (ed.) Posthumanist and New Materialist Methodologies: Research after the Child Springer. pp. 47-59How matter comes to matter in the baby room: thinkingfeelingdoing experiments in early childhood education for more liveable worlds
Osgood, J. 2020. How matter comes to matter in the baby room: thinkingfeelingdoing experiments in early childhood education for more liveable worlds. Invited Keynote Lecture. University of Canterbury, New Zealand 17 Feb 2020Special Issue "Reimagining childhood, motherhood, family & community", Genealogy 2020, 4(2)
Osgood, J. and Henward, A. 2020. Special Issue "Reimagining childhood, motherhood, family & community", Genealogy 2020, 4(2). MDPI.Reconfiguring the 'Male Montessorian': the mattering of gender through pink towering practices
Osgood, J. and Mohandas, S. 2020. Reconfiguring the 'Male Montessorian': the mattering of gender through pink towering practices. Early Years. 40 (1), pp. 67-81. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2019.1620181Conferencing otherwise: a feminist new materialist writing experiment
Osgood, J., Taylor, C., Andersen, C., Benozzo, A., Carey, N., Elmenhorst, C., Fairchild, N., Koro-Ljungberg, M., Moxnes, A., Otterstad, A., Rantala, T. and Tobias-Green, K. 2020. Conferencing otherwise: a feminist new materialist writing experiment. Cultural Studies <-> Critical Methodologies. 20 (6), pp. 596-609. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532708620912801Pets that have ‘something inside’: the material politics of in/animacy and queer kin within the childhood menagerie
Hohti, R. and Osgood, J. 2020. Pets that have ‘something inside’: the material politics of in/animacy and queer kin within the childhood menagerie. Genealogy. 4 (2), pp. 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy4020038