In this chapter, we engage with discomfort as a generative concept in early childhood education in the Anthropocene. We think about the concept of discomfort through the debate on the Netflix original documentary Our Planet (Wilson 2019), reactions from parents and viewers, and the response by Netflix to warn viewers (see @Netflix 2019). The documentary, which presents beautiful scenery and whose intent is to bring awareness of the human impact on an interconnected planet, came under early criticism because of the sensitive content, with animals dying and suffering due to human-induced climate change. As a result of parental complaints about children crying, Netflix tweeted time references with content warning about sections for those affected by animals’ death to skip. In considering this response, we examine the idea of discomfort and question why it is so difficult to allow children to engage with reality. Avoiding reality filled with ugliness, surprise, death, and disorder suggests needing to protect children from the complex reality of nature. This reaction can be seen as a dangerous perpetuation of the idea that humans are separate from nature. When humans are understood as being part of complex nature, efforts to ‘protect’ children from aspects of planetary reality have consequences in facing human-induced climate changes on Earth. This protectionist behavior generates human exceptionalist approaches that ‘other’ nature, including reality such as death. How can discomfort influence a more attuned response to living well with others in the Anthropocene? In this chapter we ask: How might we consider alternative thinking in early childhood education that includes the generative nature of discomfort?
To Cite: Bacelar de Castro, A. & Hennessy, S. (2022). Living in the Anthropocene. In Kraftl et al. (Ed.), Young People and Thinking Technologies in/for the Anthropocene. Rowman & Littlefield.
Sarah M. Hennessy 