Beyond pseudonyms: Using new-hermetic materialism and colour theory for ethical representation in early childhood research

In early childhood research, children are often anonymised through pseudonyms or numbers, well-intentioned strategies that can unintentionally reduce children to data points. This paper responds to that representational tension by introducing a more affective, relational approach rooted in New-Hermetic Materialism, a synthesis of posthumanist ethics and esoteric understandings of energy, vibration, and symbol. Guided by the view that children pulsate with colour, presence, and relational meaning, this study uses colour theory as a way to move beyond pseudonyms, offering a non-reductive and ethically attuned alternative to conventional anonymisation. This paper draws from a piece of doctoral research conducted in an early years setting, where each child participant was represented by a colour. These colours were selected through a reflective process involving classroom observation, practitioner insight, and intuitive attunement. Informed by both psychological and symbolic traditions of colour, as well as vibrational and energetic perspectives, colour is approached not as a label or metaphor, but as a material-affective resonance, something that gestures toward the child’s way of being without fixing their identity. This approach sits within a broader conversation about ethical representation and posthumanist inquiry in childhood research. Drawing also on educational and artistic traditions, the paper proposes a relational ethics of presence, one that allows researchers to stay with the complexity of children’s becoming, while attending gently to the politics of anonymity.