1 De Graeve, Katrien (2015), 'Theorising Identities in Early Childhood'. In A. Farrell, S.L. Kagan, & K.M. Tisdall (eds.), Sage Handbook of Early Childhood Research. Part 2. Theorising Early Childhood Research, London: Sage Press (in press). Theorising Identities in Early Childhood Katrien De Graeve Introduction Age has been identified as one of the many identity categories that shape our lives and influence the extent to which we are able to exercise agency. In the 1990s, Prout and James (1997: 8) stated that the new paradigm in childhood studies should consider age, and young age in particular, as a variable of social analysis, inseparable from other variables such as class, gender, or ethnicity. Children are increasingly the focus of research and policy. However, ‘the child’ is still often considered as a unified, universal category, and the intersection with other markers of difference and inequality is not always clearly articulated. The field of early childhood and education is no exception. Despite of its focus on a specific age range (usually the period from birth to eight years is considered as early childhood), the diversity of experiences and identities often tends to be subsumed under universal categorizations. In this chapter, I aim to present some building blocks for a theoretical framework for the study of young children that takes into account the plurality of childhood experiences, and the parental and other cultures of early childhood education and care that surround the rearing of children. I review a growing body of empirical and theoretical research on cultures and identities that contributes to a better understanding of early childhood identities as processes that are enacted in conjunction with intersecting vectors of oppression and privilege, bio- political governing technologies, moral economies of care, and the politics of belonging and citizenship. By tracing some of the scholarly debates that took place at the intersection of