Professor Abigail Hackett Professor of Childhood and Education
Professor of Childhood and Education
Summary
I am a Professor of Childhood and Education at the Institute of Education, 香蕉视频. I am particularly interested in the role of place, materiality and the body in young children鈥檚 lives and literacies. My work is located mostly in communities, and non-formal learning spaces.
About
With a background in museums, I have expertise in young children鈥檚 experiences of museum spaces. I am particularly interested in methodology, and, as my research is mostly with children aged under three years, I experiment with visual, sensory and ethnographic methodologies for understanding tacit and inchoate aspects of young children鈥檚 lives.
One major strand of my research looks at the literacies and meaning making practices of young children in communities. I have carried out ethnographic research with families and children aged under three years, looking at how children鈥檚 multimodal meaning making relies on sound and movement in a more-than-human world. It is, I have argued, emergent, provisional and political, deeply entangled with body and place.
A second ongoing strand of my research looks at young children in museums. I have proposed new theoretical frames, grounded in movement, the body and how places are experienced and experimented with, to help educators and museum professionals make sense of young children鈥檚 experiences of museum visiting, and to inform provision for early year audiences.
Increasingly my research engages with the context of young children鈥檚 lives today, characterised by precarity, increasing inequality and environmental uncertainty. Education has an important role to play in redefining human / planetary relations, informed by historical understandings of how the current situation emerged in a context of colonial expansion and exploitation. My research looks at how young children could be involved in these conversations, and how early childhood educators might respond to the question of what literacies are relevant for thriving in a precarious environmental future.
香蕉视频
- Social and Economic 香蕉视频 Institute
Towards Toddlerhood: reframing toddlers and their development through the arts
AHRC, PI, with Jill Pluquailec, Rachel Holmes, Christina MacRae, Jayne Osgood and Victoria de Rijke (2025-2027)
Asking; How can arts practice generate critical conversations with, and alternative understandings of, toddlerhood? this cross-university, collaborative networking project will widen debates about how 鈥榙evelopment鈥 situates different children differently and what the alternatives, such as a post-developmental lens, can offer.
Voices of the future: Collaborating with children and young people to re-imagine treescapes
NERC, Co-I, PI is Kate Pahl (2021-2024)
This major interdisciplinary project investigates the value of treescapes from the perspectives of children and young people, in order to ensure sustainable treescapes for the future. I direct a work package within this project titled Re-imagining the language of trees: treescapes and very young children exploring language, place and belonging in outdoor spaces, in order to cocreate new ways of thinking about emergent language.
Supporting young children鈥檚 language through place and movement in museums
Humber Museums Partnership (2022), PI, with Christina MacRae and David Shannon
A continuation of my long term collaboration with Humber Museums Partnership, this research will understand young children鈥檚 experiences of museums, galleries and outside spaces, as they begin to open and welcome family groups. In particular, we are interested in what this situation might have to teach us about the emergence of young children鈥檚 language and its relationship with place.
The emergence of literacy in very young children: place and materiality in more-than-human world.
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2017-2021)
This major ethnographic study of young children鈥檚 literacy practices in community settings in Northern England, has investigated the role of place, materiality and the body in the emergence of literacy in young children between the ages of 12 and 36 months.
KINDKNOW The Centre for Systemic 香蕉视频 on Diversity and Sustainable Future
Norwegian 香蕉视频 Council, PI is Elin Eriksen Odegaard (Sept 2018 鈥 August 2023)
International co-operating partner with University of Tromso on a workpackage entitled The methodology of place 鈥 in between local tradition and the development of place in kindergartens for the future. This is part of Kindergarten Knowledge Centre for Systemic 香蕉视频 on Diversity and Sustainable Development, a major Norway wide five year research centre project.
Publications
Journal articles
Hackett, A., & Myrstad, A. (2025). . Journal of Childhood Studies, 50 (1), 71-87.
Hackett, A., Shannon, D.B., MacRae, C., & MacLure, M. (2025). A little thing that returns: Refrains and young children鈥檚 sense making in museum spaces. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.
Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., & MacRae, C. (2025). . Qualitative 香蕉视频.
Pahl, K., Ambreen, S., Badwan, K., Carr, S., Cooper, D., Curtis, E., ... Vergunst, J. (2025). . 香蕉视频 for All, 9 (1).
Hackett, A., Kraftl, P., Pool, S., & White, J. (2025). . Global Studies of Childhood.
Rasool, Z., & Hackett, A. (2024). . TESOL Journal, 15 (4).
Hackett, A., Hall, M., Pahl, K., & Kraftl, P. (2024). . Qualitative 香蕉视频, 25 (4).
Osgood, J., & Hackett, A. (2024). . International Review of Qualitative 香蕉视频.
Shannon, D.B., & Hackett, A. (2024). . Critical Inquiry in Language Studies.
Hulston, S. (2024). Review: Abigail Hackett 鈥楳ore鈥恡han鈥怘uman Literacies in Early Childhood鈥. Literacy, 58 (1), 137-138.
Shannon, D.B., & Hackett, A. (2023). . Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.
Hackett, A. (2022). . Literacy, 56 (3), 244-252.
Hackett, A. (2022). . Global Studies of Childhood, 12 (3), 263-276.
Tesar, M., Duhn, I., Nordstrom, S.N., Koro, M., Sparrman, A., Orrmalm, A., ... Malone, K. (2021). . Educational Philosophy and Theory.
Hackett, A., MacLure, M., & McMahon, S. (2021). . Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 42 (6), 913-929.
Hackett, A. (2021). Kim Lenters and Mairi McDermott, Affect, embodiment and place in critical literacy assembling theory and practice. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 21 (2), 310-313.
Myrstad, A., Hackett, A., & Bartn忙s, P. (2020). . Global Studies of Childhood.
Boycott鈥怗arnett, R., MacRae, C., Hackett, A., Otito Tamsho鈥怲homas, T., & Holmes, R. (2020). Bonbonnieres in the gallery: (re)presenting sugar in a family gallery space. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 39 (4), 754-769.
Truman, S.E., Hackett, A., Pahl, K., McLean Davies, L., & Escott, H. (2020). . Reading 香蕉视频 Quarterly.
Hackett, A., MacLure, M., & Pahl, K. (2020). Literacy and language as material practices: Re-thinking social inequality in young children鈥檚 literacies. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 20 (1), 3-12.
Hackett, A., & Rautio, P. (2019). Answering the world: young children鈥檚 running and rolling as more-than-human multimodal meaning making. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 32 (8), 1019-1031.
Hackett, A., Procter, L., & Kummerfeld, R. (2018). Exploring abstract, physical, social and embodied space: developing an approach for analysing museum spaces for young children. Children's Geographies, 16 (5), 489-502.
Hackett, A., MacRae, C., McCall, K., Penfold, L., Wallis, N., Bates, E., & Cooke, L. (2018). Coda: posthumous conversations. A reading group to discuss the work of Dr Elee Kirk. Children's Geographies, 16 (5), 571-577.
Hackett, A., Holmes, R., MacRae, C., & Procter, L. (2018). Young children鈥檚 museum geographies: spatial, material and bodily ways of knowing. Children's Geographies, 16 (5), 481-488.
MacRae, C., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., & Jones, L. (2018). Vibrancy, repetition and movement: posthuman theories for reconceptualising young children in museums. Children's Geographies, 16 (5), 503-515.
Gallagher, M., Hackett, A., Procter, L., & Scott, F. (2018). . Educational Studies, 54 (4), 465-482.
Hackett, A. (2017). Parents as researchers: collaborative ethnography with parents. Qualitative 香蕉视频, 17 (5), 481-497.
Hackett, A., & Somerville, M. (2017). Posthuman literacies: Young children moving in time, place and more-than-human worlds. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 17 (3), 374-391.
Procter, L., & Hackett, A. (2017). Playing with place in early childhood: An analysis of dark emotion and materiality in children鈥檚 play. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 18 (2), 213-226.
Hackett, A., Pahl, K., & Pool, S. (2017). In amongst the glitter and the squashed blueberries: crafting a collaborative lens for children鈥檚 literacy pedagogy in a community setting. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 12 (1), 58-73.
Abdi, M., & Hackett, A. (2016). Candace R Kuby (ed.), Critical Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom: Unpacking Histories, Unlearning Privilege. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 16 (3), 418-421.
Hackett, A. (2016). Young Children as Wayfarers: Learning about Place by Moving Through It. Children & Society, 30 (3), 169-179.
Hackett, A., Pool, S., Rowsell, J., & Aghajan, B. (2015). Seen and unseen: using video data in ethnographic fieldwork. Qualitative 香蕉视频 Journal, 15 (4), 430-444.
Hackett, A. (2014). Zigging and zooming all over the place: Young children鈥檚 meaning making and movement in the museum. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 14 (1), 5-27.
Hackett, A., & Dennell, R. (2003). Neanderthals as fiction in archaeological narrative. Antiquity, 77 (298), 816-827.
Hackett, A., Giles, W., & James, S. (2000). Successful vaginal delivery in a woman with amyoplasia. The Australian & New Zealand journal of obstetrics & gynaecology, 40 (4), 461-463.
Book chapters
Hackett, A., Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Ehiyazaryan-White, E., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 237-249). Routledge:
Hackett, A., Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Ehiyazaryan-White, E., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 237-249). Routledge:
Hackett, A., MacRae, C., Shannon, D.B., Chester, R., Cooke, L., Hallberg, E., ... Toon, S. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... SHANNON, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 119-130). Routledge:
Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., & Hackett, A. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 159-167). Routledge:
Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Holmes, R., Hackett, A., ... Shannon, D.B. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 3-16). Routledge:
Farah, W., Hackett, A., Holcomb, L., Nair, V.K.K., & Shannon, D.B. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 150-156). Routledge:
Dower, R.C., Hackett, A., Lee, A., & Shannon, D.B. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 227-233). Routledge:
Hackett, A., & Shannon, D.B. (2025). In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 104-118). Routledge:
Power-Annand, A., & Hackett, A. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 70-79). Routledge:
Power-Annand, A., & Hackett, A. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 70-79). Routledge:
Hackett, A., & Shannon, D.B. (2025). In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 104-118). Routledge:
Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Holmes, R., Hackett, A., ... Shannon, D.B. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 3-16). Routledge:
Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., & Hackett, A. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 159-167). Routledge:
Hackett, A., MacRae, C., Shannon, D.B., Chester, R., Cooke, L., Hallberg, E., ... Toon, S. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... SHANNON, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 119-130). Routledge:
Dower, R.C., Hackett, A., Lee, A., & Shannon, D.B. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 227-233). Routledge:
Farah, W., Hackett, A., Holcomb, L., Nair, V.K.K., & Shannon, D.B. (2025). . In Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Shannon, D.B. (Eds.) Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. (pp. 150-156). Routledge:
Hackett, A., & Gallagher, M. (2024). . In Routledge Encyclopaedia of Qualitative 香蕉视频 methods. Routledge
Hackett, A., & MacRae, C. (2023). . In Osgood, J. (Ed.) Post-developmental Approaches to Childhood 香蕉视频 Observation. (pp. 23-38). London: Bloomsbury Academic:
Hackett, A. (2022). Literacies Yet to Come: Young Children鈥檚 Emergent, Provisional and Speculative Literacies for Precarious Futures. In Cultural Studies and Transdisciplinarity in Education. (pp. 131-145). Springer Singapore:
Holmes, R., MacRae, C., & Hackett, A. (2020). Introduction to Part I. In Working with Young Children in Museums. (pp. 15-26). Routledge:
Hackett, A., Holmes, R., & MacRae, C. (2020). Introduction. In Working with Young Children in Museums. (pp. 1-12). Routledge:
Hackett, A., MacRae, C., & Holmes, R. (2020). Introduction to Part II. In Working with Young Children in Museums. (pp. 77-86). Routledge:
MacRae, C., Hackett, A., & Holmes, R. (2020). Introduction to Part III. In Working with Young Children in Museums. (pp. 135-143). Routledge:
Gallagher, M., Hackett, A., Procter, L., & Scott, F. (2019). Vibrations in Place. In Sonic Studies in Educational Foundations. (pp. 129-147). Routledge:
Caton, L., & Hackett, A. (2019). HEAD MOUNTED, CHEST MOUNTED, TRIPOD OR ROAMING? The methodological potentials of a GoPro camera and ontological possibilities for doing visual research with child participants differently. In Routledge International Handbook of Learning with Technology in Early Childhood. (pp. 362-376).
Hackett, A., MacRae, C., & Holmes, R. (2019). Introduction to part I. In Working with Young Children in Museums Weaving Theory and Practice. (pp. 15-26).
Hackett, A., MacRae, C., & Holmes, R. (2019). Introduction to part II. In Working with Young Children in Museums Weaving Theory and Practice. (pp. 77-86).
MacRae, C., Hackett, A., & Holmes, R. (2019). Introduction to part III. In Working with Young Children in Museums Weaving Theory and Practice. (pp. 135-143).
Hackett, A., Holmes, R., & MacRae, C. (2019). Introduction. In Working with Young Children in Museums Weaving Theory and Practice. (pp. 1-11).
Gallagher, M., Hackett, A., Procter, L., & Scott, F. (2019). Vibrations in place: Sound and language in early childhood literacy practices. In Sonic Studies in Educational Foundations Echoes Reverberations Silences Noise. (pp. 129-147).
Hackett, A. (2015). Children鈥檚 Embodied Entanglement and Production of Space in a Museum. In Children鈥檚 Spatialities. (pp. 75-92). Palgrave Macmillan UK:
Hackett, A., Procter, L., & Seymour, J. (2015). Introduction: Spatial Perspectives and Childhood Studies. In Children鈥檚 Spatialities. (pp. 1-17). Palgrave Macmillan UK:
Hackett, A. (2015). Multimodality and sensory ethnographies. In Routledge Handbook of Literacy Studies. (pp. 295-307).
Books
Hackett, A. (2021). More-Than-Human Literacies in Early Childhood.
Seymour, J., Hackett, A., & Procter, L. (2016). Children's Spatialities Embodiment, Emotion and Agency. Springer.
Hackett, A., Holmes, R., & MacRae, C. (Eds.). (n.d.). Working with Young Children in Museums. Routledge.
Badwan, K., Dower, R.C., Farah, W., Flewitt, R., Hackett, A., Holmes, R., ... Ben Shannon, D. (n.d.). Language, Place, and the Body in Childhood Literacies. Routledge.
Postgraduate supervision
I have supervised doctoral projects on topics including early childhood literacies, coproduction with communities, young children, arts and museums, and post-qualitative methodologies. I welcome applications from students interested in my areas of research.