referring to mike's question on age,
and jay's anthem on the dimensions of something that adults cannot
understand
from the perspective of kids,
it is hard to know where this 'phenomenon' fits in the sociopolitical and
sociohistorical registers,
since all of us played with particular toys that we can look at now
and identify as complex social activities - my ken & ricki dolls, for
instance, were homos,
they went "camping" often,
and my sister and best friend and i were irrestibly drawn to lesbo-erotic
scenarios
when dressing barbie and midge, (midge actually became "Fifi" as in "Fifi!
What are you _doing_?!" - which
embarassed and delighted us, really) -
the ways academics read children's activities of course tells us little
about what kids are doing
in their play - nevertheless, i think pwgraham's political read is a good
one - the times are different
and the corporate investment in childhood has changed.
anytime everyone is doing the same thing, i worry.
be vewy afrwaid.
what kinds of value are embedded in "play" that is so dependent upon media
marketing?
it is easy to manipulate desire.
diane
' 'We have destroyed something by our presence,' said Bernard, 'a
world perhaps.'
(Virginia Woolf, "The Waves")
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
diane celia hodges
university of british columbia, vancouver / university of colorado, denver
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