[Air-L] [CFP] 'toys' (Reminder: 3000 word articles due on 17 February)

[Tama Leaver]

[CFP] 'toys' (Reminder: 3000 word articles due on 17 February)

Toys have a complex relationship with children, childhood, play, and the
adult world. They can be constructed as a site of creativity and
imagination, inspiring a new generation to explore possible roles, futures,
skills, and aspirations. Alternatively, they can be seen as an effective
tool for enlisting the next generation as unwitting participants in the
consumerist dystopia. Toys increasingly include digital components,
sometimes accessing and sharing data online, sometimes taking the form of
play that includes accessories and apps. Either way, and at all points in
between, toys have a special place in the childhood imaginary and in the
hopes and fears of parents and of adults who care for and about children.

This issue is interested in toys as vehicles for future imaginaries, as
links with the past, and as receptacles for adults' hopes and fears for
their children.

Take, for example, the role of Internet-connected toys. Such toys might be
seen as implicated in a range of flows of data and of money that are
invisible to the child themself and, often, to the parents. Parents
(possibly succumbing to pester power) may buy or engineer the purchase of a
toy, which may come with a warranty and a requirement for accepting terms
and conditions: all of which serve to gather data about the adult and the
child user. In addition to the purchase of the toy, the caregiver is
required to provide an Internet service, which represents another cost.
Many toys and connected playthings are implicated in other flows of
financial interest as vehicles for advertising messages, or in terms of
offering higher 'levels' of engagement or game or toy enhancements.
Finally, toys may themselves include or suggest further products,
commodifying the attention and interest of the child that plays with them.

This issue invites articles that explore constructions of toys that
position playthings at the junctions of human experience, imagination,
data, information, and monetary flows.

Ideally prospective contributors should email an abstract of 100-250 words
and a brief biography to the issue editors. Abstracts should include the
article title and should describe your research question, approach, and
argument. Biographies should be about three sentences (maximum 75 words)
and should include your institutional affiliation and research interests.
Articles should be 3000 words (plus bibliography). All articles will be
double-blind refereed and must adhere to MLA style (6th edition).

Details
Article deadline: 17 Feb. 2023
Expected Release date: 19 Apr. 2023
Editors: Lelia Green, Tama Leaver, and Louise Kay
Please submit articles through the M/C Journal Website:
https://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/index
Send any enquiries to toys at journal.media-culture.org.au

-- 
Professor Tama Leaver (he/him)
Professor of Internet Studies

School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry (MCASI)
Faculty of Humanities
Curtin University
GPO Box U1987 Perth WA Australia 6845
Ph: (+61 8) 9266 1258
Email: t.leaver at curtin.edu.au
Web: www.tamaleaver.net
Twitter: @tamaleaver <https://twitter.com/tamaleaver>
CRICOS Provider Code: 00301J (WA)