Shifting temporal frames in children’s common worlds in the Anthropocene

In this article, the authors bring the new temporal theorizations of the Anthropocene into the pedagogical realm by grappling with the shifting time relationships the Anthropocene makes one aware of within the context of children’s common worlds. Using an actively inclusive more-than-human common worlds framework that reassembles worlds by countering the divisive distinction that is often drawn between sociocultural contexts (mostly dominated by clock time) and natural environments, the authors resist the epistemological division between society and/or culture as distinct from nature that underpins post-Enlightenment western thinking in early childhood pedagogies. The authors’ common world pedagogies are primarily interested in the real-life worlds that 21st-century children inherit, inhabit and share with human and more-than-human others. They acknowledge that these lifeworlds are imperfect and complex, and that they come with multiple legacies. In this article, the authors focus on the temporal legacies young children inherit and inhabit in their common worlds.