Young white children's (not so) innocent wonderings about skin color

Issues of race and racism in early childhood education remain under-researched in Denmark—a country where the ideology of equity is particularly prevalent. However, international research on race and racism has long shown that children as young as three to four years of age can express stereotypes and develop prejudicial attitudes related to race, leading to exclusionary social behaviors. This article presents a microsocial analysis of how skin color becomes a socially constructed site of power and access in children's social processes of differentiation. The article is written from the perspective of childhood sociology and is based on participant observations from critical ethnographic-inspired fieldwork conducted in a Danish kindergarten. The analysis shows how normative whiteness orientates two white five-year-old boys’ interpretations of a four-year-old Black girl's dark-complexioned skin. By extension, the article discusses why young white children's meaning-making wonderings about skin color should not be considered an innocent everyday part of kindergarten life. Finally, the article considers the role of early childhood educators when emphasizing the importance of recognizing early childhood education settings as critical sites in the (re)production and disruption of contemporary issues of race and racism.