Re-imagining the Froebelian influence on early childhood education as a dynamic and ever-changing web of encounter

Friedrich Froebel is often positioned in contemporary landscapes of early childhood education as a 'pioneer', strongly associated with an emphasis on self-directed activity and learning through nature. While Froebel's philosophy has clearly had an impact on how we think about young children today, in this article we argue that we need to re-imagine what counts as Froebel's influence so that it goes well beyond the sayings and doings of one individual. In line with this special issue, we seek to bewilder the concept of the pioneer by instead re-imagining Froebel's influence as a dynamic and ever-changing web of encounter. In conceptualising this web of encounter, we think with Karen Barad's 'entangled genealogies' and introduce into working with these genealogies, the historical methods of prosopography and material histories of the book. Using digitised extracts from late 19th century texts by or about Froebel as a starting point, we attempt to present small parts of a web of encounter drawing in complex national, cultural, economic and material contexts, along with the contributions of multiple individuals, many of whom have been forgotten or side-lined. We argue that exploring and documenting Froebel's influence in this way can support critical and lively reflection on the past, present and future of early childhood education.