The CAREC Pre-Conference is working with the following interferences in academic conferencing as a way of insisting on the possibilities of dialogue in early childhood research in Canada. We attempt to experiment with conditions for an unrecognizable dialogue possible of ‘radicalizing’ early childhood research, not as a description or destination (Stengers, 2018), but rather as a verb--an unfinished and iterative doing, without guarantees. We offer these moves, not as a model or approach, but as small ‘working’ gestures in creating a dialogical situation for studying together and in difference. 

 

Move 1: Interrupting conference norms is by insisting on no PowerPoint or similar visual presentations. We remove visual presentations from the afternoon study group sessions to destabilize logics of representation and consumption in academic conferencing. We seek to cultivate dialogues that emerge from in-process work and thought that is on-the-move, rather than research findings or conclusions.  

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Move 2: Taking up a feminist approach to the ‘behind the scenes labour’ of the conference, by linking the reviewer and chair roles. The reviewer-chair role (similar to a “critical friend”) is intended to create an ongoing conversation between grad students/early career scholars who have submitted proposals and CAREC scholars. Reviewer-chairs follow proposals from submission through to the conference, in a non-blind collaborative peer review process. The reviewer-chair role is comprised of two interrelated responsibilities: 

1. To offer critical and supportive feedback on one submission, and 

2. Act as a co-chair of the session in collaboration with one other ‘reviewer-chair’ during the pre-conference. The pre-conference committee will offer a supportive framework for co-chairing the sessions. 

 

Move 3: Formatting concurrent sessions with a decidedly feminist structure for dialogue. Inspired by Dr. Astrida Neimanis’ reading group practice for creating space, the afternoon sessions will follow a feminist structure for small group dialogue in the study groups. After the presentations, instead of ‘Q & A’, every attendee (including presenters, reviewer-chairs) will have a timed space to respond with an emerging question and informal thought. Each attendee can share as much or as little as they like, without response or interjection from other attendees. The intention is that everyone has the same amount of (uninterrupted) time to speak. Whether one uses the full time or not, the space will be held.