Spirit Molestation: Identity Development Abuse in Western Early Childhood Education Programmes Serving Black African American Students

Abstract

The most vulnerable students in the USA's public education system are young African American children. They are vulnerable to developmental abuse or spirit molestation. This article focuses on early education programmes employing Western theories and concepts touted as best practices as the source for spirit molestation. These theories have global presence and are blindly adopted internationally despite their racist epistemological undergirding and the readily available evidence of their lack of efficacy with non-Western-ancestry students, and specifically Black African American students, referred to as Africans in America, or AiAs. The literature reveals the collective failure of Eurocentric theories and concepts defined as developmentally appropriate practices, and yet teacher preparation programmes continue to present them as universally the best pathway for optimising young students’ growth and development.