Pedagogical Theory & Diversity in the U.S. and Mexico

Pedagogy is a branch of philosophy that readily became women’s domain in the nineteenth century. This was especially true of early childhood education, which attracted women across races and cultures in North America. This paper focuses on women of color in the U.S. and touches on the work of early Mexican feminists who applied early childhood theory in their own cultural contexts. Although there were certainly variations in pedagogical theory and practice within specific communities, here I focus on two main themes: a) women educators’ response to the assimilationist agenda in early childhood education; b) their view of education as a means of social/cultural empowerment within their own communities.