Journeys through transitional spaces: tangible and abstract encounters from the BCU EYRC team: Affective feminist archival encounters with Caroline Bishop and the Edgbaston Froebel College

Dominique Simpson

Journeys through transitional spaces: tangible and abstract encounters from the BCU EYRC team: Affective feminist archival encounters with Caroline Bishop and the Edgbaston Froebel College

Dominique Simpson

Department of Education

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

Abstract

Archival material was used to re-examine the pioneering life and work of Caroline Bishop (1846-1929), reflecting on her significance and influence for my own practice and professional identity as an educator in and from Birmingham.

Archives are now recognised as spaces of knowledge creation and potential (Gaillet, 2012). Engaging with archival documents can be an affective experience, where the emotive responses when discovering material about a person or community, can have transformational power (Caswell, 2018).

This research was underpinned by feminist critical theory and the concept of affective anarchiving (SenseLab, n.d). A feminist lens enabled interrogation of archival silences and gendered power relations shaping historical knowledge (Katsiampoura, 2024), while affective anarchiving supported relational and reflective engagement with archival materials.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published (VoR) - 16 Feb 2026
Event	British Early Childhood Education Research Association: Childhoods in Transition - CREC, Birmingham, United Kingdom Duration: 16 Feb 2026 → 16 Feb 2026 https://www.crec.co.uk/becera-conference

Conference

Conference	British Early Childhood Education Research Association
Abbreviated title	BECERA
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Birmingham
Period	16/02/26 → 16/02/26
Internet address	https://www.crec.co.uk/becera-conference

Cite this

@conference{c70927f6e1a645e8832b08f49ba43ae7,

title = "Journeys through transitional spaces: tangible and abstract encounters from the BCU EYRC team: Affective feminist archival encounters with Caroline Bishop and the Edgbaston Froebel College ",

abstract = "Archival material was used to re-examine the pioneering life and work of Caroline Bishop (1846-1929), reflecting on her significance and influence for my own practice and professional identity as an educator in and from Birmingham. Archives are now recognised as spaces of knowledge creation and potential (Gaillet, 2012). Engaging with archival documents can be an affective experience, where the emotive responses when discovering material about a person or community, can have transformational power (Caswell, 2018). This research was underpinned by feminist critical theory and the concept of affective anarchiving (SenseLab, n.d). A feminist lens enabled interrogation of archival silences and gendered power relations shaping historical knowledge (Katsiampoura, 2024), while affective anarchiving supported relational and reflective engagement with archival materials. ",

author = "Dominique Simpson",

year = "2026",

month = feb,

day = "16",

language = "English",

note = "British Early Childhood Education Research Association : Childhoods in Transition, BECERA ; Conference date: 16-02-2026 Through 16-02-2026",

url = "https://www.crec.co.uk/becera-conference",

}

Journeys through transitional spaces: tangible and abstract encounters from the BCU EYRC team: Affective feminist archival encounters with Caroline Bishop and the Edgbaston Froebel College . / Simpson, Dominique.
2026. Paper presented at British Early Childhood Education Research Association, Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

TY - CONF

T1 - Journeys through transitional spaces: tangible and abstract encounters from the BCU EYRC team

T2 - British Early Childhood Education Research Association

AU - Simpson, Dominique

PY - 2026/2/16

Y1 - 2026/2/16

N2 - Archival material was used to re-examine the pioneering life and work of Caroline Bishop (1846-1929), reflecting on her significance and influence for my own practice and professional identity as an educator in and from Birmingham. Archives are now recognised as spaces of knowledge creation and potential (Gaillet, 2012). Engaging with archival documents can be an affective experience, where the emotive responses when discovering material about a person or community, can have transformational power (Caswell, 2018). This research was underpinned by feminist critical theory and the concept of affective anarchiving (SenseLab, n.d). A feminist lens enabled interrogation of archival silences and gendered power relations shaping historical knowledge (Katsiampoura, 2024), while affective anarchiving supported relational and reflective engagement with archival materials.

AB - Archival material was used to re-examine the pioneering life and work of Caroline Bishop (1846-1929), reflecting on her significance and influence for my own practice and professional identity as an educator in and from Birmingham. Archives are now recognised as spaces of knowledge creation and potential (Gaillet, 2012). Engaging with archival documents can be an affective experience, where the emotive responses when discovering material about a person or community, can have transformational power (Caswell, 2018). This research was underpinned by feminist critical theory and the concept of affective anarchiving (SenseLab, n.d). A feminist lens enabled interrogation of archival silences and gendered power relations shaping historical knowledge (Katsiampoura, 2024), while affective anarchiving supported relational and reflective engagement with archival materials.

UR - https://www.crec.co.uk/becera-2026-programme

M3 - Paper

Y2 - 16 February 2026 through 16 February 2026

ER -

Journeys through transitional spaces: tangible and abstract encounters from the BCU EYRC team: Affective feminist archival encounters with Caroline Bishop and the Edgbaston Froebel College

Abstract

Conference

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this