Visual Stimulation -- Minimal and Visionary

I've come across some striking visuals in the past month or so that deserve some sharing. Whether offering new visions of firmly established children's literature or an entry point into the perspective of children themselves, these images can be delightful, unsettling, and provocative.

Firstly, The Unjournal of Children's Literature currently features the work of Christian Jackson, whose minimalist approach to children's stories remind the viewer of the emotion of certain elements in each story, while occasionally twisting our understanding of it as well, with provocative texture and muted but engaging colors. He has recently added a new collection of children's story-inspired works, including Beauty and the Beast, the Frog Prince, and Chicken Little. My favorite of this collection is Peter Pan, though.

 

The muddy green backdrop evokes the natural wildness of Neverland along with the greenness of youth. Golden granules of sand depict iconic fairy dust as well as the essence of time--a hidden, undisclosed source that offers ceaseless life with no boundaries. The dust pops from the background in a vivid combination that illustrates eternal youth. Pretty cool, in my opinion.

Continuing this exploration of minimalist renderings of stories, I came across a collection of animated, minimal-style gifs for each of the seven Harry Potter books. Graphic Artist Jeca Martinez takes on the same challenge as Jackson by transforming well-known children's stories into condensed images (her blog demonstrates a fascination with Disney film versions of many fairy tales too). Her Harry Potter renderings evoke a sense of the magic in the books themselves, but I wonder what the effect would be without the animation. I find it noteworthy that the classic versions of fairy tales lend themselves to a distanced kind of minimalism by Jackson (the color and textures feel much older in time, just like the stories themselves) whereas these contemporary stories are ensconced in an art more evocative of technology, from the animation, bright bold color, and sharp lines.

Finally, a mother collaborates with her daughter to create a synergized view of adults in a child's world. Artist Mica Angela Hendricks draws expressive faces and lets her 4-year-old daughter add life and limb to the heads. Mica adds color once her daughter is done, occasionally listening to her daughter's recommendations, to create wondrous visions that make one wonder exactly what it is children think, imagine, and feel.

You can read the artist's blog to discover the lessons learned from collaborating with her child. Ultimately, who is the real visionary here?

3rd Panel for Children's Literature Society at the ALA Conference

Last week we listed the CFPs for two panels that the Children's Literature Society is holding at the American Literature Association's 25th Annual Conference. They now have a third panel as well, and are accepting proposal submissions for it:

Who: Children’s Literature Society

When: May 22-25, 2014

Where: Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.

Website: www.americanliterature.org

Submission Deadline: January 15, 2014

Panel # 3:   Saving the World: Girlhood and Evangelicalism in the Nineteenth Century
Childhood studies had been steadily growing as an important field in US nineteenth-century literature and culture, complicating our understanding of the boundary between adult and child and asking what happens when we foreground the child. Taking this as our starting point, we are interested in exploring how texts that are written for girls, or represent girls, participate in the work of reform through an evangelical agenda. More specifically, what kind of cultural work does this evangelical literature perform, through its representations of childhood, kinship structures, discipline, authority, education, race, and class?

Possible Topics:
Children’s series books
Anti-Catholicism
Treatments of evangelicalism
Post-bellum representations of the South and the plantation novel
Children’s abolitionist literature
Treatment of animals
Missionary work
Treatments of discipline
Representations of kinship relations
Education, The Common School Movement or the Home School Movement
The American Sunday School Movement
The American Tract Society

Possible Writers: Lydia Sigourney, Lydia Maria Child, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Maria Cummins, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Susan Warner, Annie Fellows Johnson, Martha Finley, and Louisa May Alcott.

Please send a 500-word abstract and brief CV to Robin Cadwallader (Rcadwallader@francis.edu) or Allison Giffen (Allison.giffen@wwu.edu).

PAMLA wrap up, MAPACA, and the Dystopian (white) Child

Just some notes to start off the week...

1. PAMLA just flew by this weekend! Held at the Bahia Resort in San Diego, the conference offered a plethora of insightful, fascinating, and fun panels. Because the theme of the conference dealt with Stages of Identity, there were plenty of presentations that focused on children and childhood, making this a particularly fruitful conference for those of us studying children's literature and childhood studies. I'll talk a bit more about the experience and what I ruminated on in a later post. For now, kudos to everyone who participated and many thanks to Dr. Kenneth Kidd on his PAMLA Forum presentation on "beginner" culture. Did you all have a great experience?

2. The Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Pop Culture Association Conference is being held this week in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from November 7-9.  The conference consists of a huge number of subject areas, one of which is the Children and Childhood Studies Area. You can check out the conference schedule here to see all the topics, including "Food in Children's Literature, "Pediatrics and Popular Culture" and "Toys, Clay, and Satan: Animation and Children's Literature." If you happen to attend, share with us your experience!

3. In a recent Salon article, Dr. Anna Mae Duane talks about an emerging truth about childhood that we see from "The Walking Dead"and the rise of dystopias. She largely addresses the American need for "children to remain innocent, no matter what the cost. A quick glance at the stories we’ve told ourselves for centuries reveals a persistent tendency to categorize children as one of two things: innocent victims or bad seeds." Duane then turns that toward the reasons why all these dystopian child heroes and heroines are white -- because reality already consists of a violent world for minorities in America. Her argument pushes us to the starting point, raising important and necessary racial discussions but leaving it there for us to run with. What else can we make of dystopian heroes being white? What would happen with ethnic diversification? And when will we stop thinking of children as innocent vessels, but as human beings?

A Cancellation and an Addition to the Rutgers University Speaker Series

Because she is under the weather, Robin Bernstein’s lecture (“Trayvon Martin and So Many More: Racial Innocence Today”)–mentioned in a blog post earlier and scheduled for September 19th at the Childhood Studies Program at Rutgers University (Camden)–has, unfortunately, been canceled: http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/annual-lecture/

At the invitation of Rutgers grad students, however, Professor Emeritus Jerry Griswold will be there on October 1 and 2. Details can be found at: http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~jgriswol/Calendar.htm. He will be speaking on "Visualness" and "The Anthropology of Childhood" during his visit.

While in Philadelphia, Griswold will also be assessing the progress of Martin Woodside and Ellen Malven, former SDSU grad students now studying for the Ph.D. in Childhood Studies. These examinations will take place in Irish bars throughout the city.

CFP: Perceptions of Childhood for The Unjournal of Children's Literature

Volume 1, Issue 2 (Spring 2014):  Perceptions and Portrayals of Childhood
Submissions Deadline: November 4, 2013
Submit to: UnjournalSubmissions@gmail.com
Send Questions to: ChildlitUnjournal@gmail.com

The Unjournal of Children’s Literature is now accepting submissions on the topic of perceptions and portrayals of childhood in children’s literature. Traditional scholarly articles are welcome, as well as more creative approaches to addressing the subject.
The academic field of children’s literature often struggles with the definition, or indeed the existence, of childhood. While scholars like Jacqueline Rose and Perry Nodelman have long maintained that the adult-constructed perception of childhood dominates the field of children’s literature, others such as Jerry Griswold and Marah Gubar are exploring the role of the real child in children’s literature. We hope to enliven this discussion with thoughtful approaches that expand on one or more of these perceptions, examine various portrayals, or challenge the conceived notions of childhood with a point-of-view altogether unique.

Possible topics could include, but are not limited to:

• Blurred boundaries between children’s books and adult books
• The authenticity of the portrayal of the childhood experience
• Children in adult roles in children’s lit
• Interdisciplinary analyses of childhood in children’s lit (e.g., psychological, anthropological, historical, socio-cultural, geographical, etc)
• Portrayals of adults in children’s lit
• Children’s books that aren’t: Go the Fuck to Sleep, Animal Epitaphs and more
• Child authors
• The real versus the constructed child
• The rhetoric of the constructed child in children’s lit
• Essentials of childhood debunked
• Child agency, either in child characters or in the field itself
• Evolution of the concept of childhood
• Effects of globalization on the understanding of childhood

Once again, both traditional and unconventional submissions are welcome. Some potential examples of creative approaches include: an interactive map/chart of your argument, an illustrative approach, or an editorial/opinion article (less academic, more charged).

Review Process:
The review process for submissions will include a double blind peer review. The selections for publication will be based on recommendations from the peer reviewers and final editorial review.

Submission Specifications:
Send your submissions to UnjournalSubmissions@gmail.com

1. Indicate in the subject that this is an article submission
2. In the body of the email, include your name, contact information, title of your work, and abstract (250 words max)
3. All papers should be attached as a Word document (.doc or .docx)
   • Include ONLY the title
   • Do NOT include your name or contact information in the Word document

Any supplemental artwork should be attached as a JPEG. If the file size is too large to be sent via email, please contact us directly to arrange an alternative method of submission.

Copyright Information: Please note that due to copyright laws, there may be images that we will not be able to reproduce; it is up to you to confirm, obtain, and provide us with proof of copyright permission. Otherwise, we can include legitimate links to artwork/images if provided.

Any Questions? Contact the Unjournal editors at ChildLitUnjournal@gmail.com

2nd Annual Lecture on Childhood Studies at Rutgers-Camden

"Trayvon Martin and So Many More: Racial Innocence Today"

Thursday, September 19th 2013, 7pm

Reception at 6pm 

Professor Robin Bernstein

When George Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin, he didn’t see an innocent kid with candy.  He saw a criminal.  And he wasn’t the only one: even after Zimmerman killed Martin, who was proven to have been unarmed, some members of the press rushed to attach guilt to Martin, not Zimmerman.  As African American blogger Mia McKenzie recently wrote, “Why don’t our children get to be children? Why don’t they ever get to be innocent?”  Robin Bernstein’s talk answers this question.  She unearths the history of how white children came to be understood as innocent–and how children of color, especially black children, became seen as tough, non-childlike, and definitely not innocent.  And she shows how this history remains vivid today–for Trayvon Martin and so many more.

http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/annual-lecture/

*For those in the area who can attend it, I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the lecture. Not only is the subject matter far too relevant for our current socio-political situation, but it also adds to the conversation about the intermingling of childhood studies with children's literature studies.

Career Opportunity: Asst and Associate Professor, Childhood Studies

Title: ASSISTANT and ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, CHILDHOOD STUDIES

Institution: Rutgers University—Camden

Start Date: September 2014

ASSISTANT and ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, CHILDHOOD STUDIES.  The Department of Childhood Studies, Rutgers University—Camden, New Jersey, USA invites applications for two positions:  Assistant Professor (tenure-track) and Associate Professor (tenured) of Childhood Studies to commence on 1st September 2014.

Building on the strengths of its established, internationally recognized program, the Department seeks outstanding scholars whose research interests and projects address the lives or contexts of children and childhood from an interdisciplinary perspective.  All areas in the social sciences and humanities are welcome, including interdisciplinary fields such as performance studies, gender studies and disability studies. The disciplinary affiliation of an applicant is of less importance than the quality of his/her research and the demonstrated appreciation for multidisciplinary approaches to the study of children and childhood.  We are particularly interested in receiving applications from those whose work addresses the following areas, broadly conceived, and can speak to both national and transnational contexts: children’s sexualities, literacies, media, health behavior, geographies and disabilities.  We seek applicants with experience supervising doctoral students and interest in contributing to leadership roles within the department.

Established in 2007 as the first doctoral-granting granting program in childhood studies in the USA, the Department graduated its first Ph.D. students in May 2013. Childhood Studies offers a robust, multidisciplinary curriculum for BA, MA, and Ph.D. degrees.  The Department has hosted several major international conferences, sponsors an array of lectures and symposia, and annually welcomes visiting scholars from around the world. It enjoys an active faculty and graduate student body whose work often integrates scholarship with social engagement.

Rutgers University—Camden, a beautiful, urban campus expanding to accommodate the growth of Southern New Jersey, is located just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.  Rutgers is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.  The University and our Department seek to attract an active, culturally diverse faculty of the highest caliber.  Women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply.

Candidates can learn about the campus and the Department of Childhood Studies at http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/ and by contacting Department Chair, Dr. Lynne Vallone. Applications should include a cover letter indicating the ways in which their research adds to the Department’s strengths and focusing on how their teaching and research may enhance a multidisciplinary program, along with a CV and no more than two publications for the Associate Professor position and one for the Assistant Professor position.  Applicants to the Assistant Professor position should forward three letters of recommendation while applicants to the Associate Professor position should forward a list of at least three potential referees.  Applications—electronic submissions are encouraged—should be sent to cstudies@camden.rutgers.edu or to Dr. Lynne Vallone, Department of Childhood Studies, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 405-407 Cooper Street, Camden, NJ 08102 USA.  The positions will remain open until filled, but completed applications received by 7 November 2013 will receive fullest consideration.

Conference: "Putting the Figure on the Map," in September 2013

“Putting the Figure on the Map: Imagining Sameness and Difference for Children”

Interdisciplinary Conference hosted by the Cotsen Children's Library at Princeton University

September 11-13, 2013 

This interdisciplinary program co-organized by Emer O’Sullivan (Leuphana University Lüneburg) and Andrea Immel (Cotsen Children's Library Princeton) will draw on the approaches in imagology, history, anthropology, psychology, and literary criticism. It will focus on modes of expression arising within or without the classroom that either target children or appropriate discourses for them that create competing, complimentary, or contradictory images of foreign nations and their peoples. The program will also feature a session where primary resources from the Cotsen collection will be highlighted.    

Visit the conference website at  http://www.princeton.edu/cotsen/research-collection/academic-conferences/imagining/ for a list of presenters, short biographies, abstracts and the conference schedule. 

Registration:  free to Princeton University students, faculty and staff; $25 for all others.  You may register online at the conference site.

For more information, please contact Andrea Immel aimmel@princeton.edu or Emer O'Sullivan osullivan@uni-lueneburg.de 

CFP: Children's Literature and Psychoanalysis Conference in Philadelphia

Call for Papers
“Enchanted Places”, Imagined Childhoods
A Symposium on Children’s Literature and Psychoanalysis
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania
Deadline: February 15, 2014

Featured Author:  Jerry Spinelli

Jerry Spinelli has been writing books for more than thirty years and has published an average of one book a year over that time.  Maniac Magee (1991) won the Newbery Award and Wringer (1997) was a Newbery Honor recipient.  More recent titles include Stargirl (2000), Milkweed (2003) and Hokey Pokey (2013). In a blend of gritty realism and casual magic, Spinelli locates his stories in the places where ordinary children live—old cities, dreary suburbs and school classrooms—then enchants these places with transcendent language and characters who radiate courage and bold eccentricity.  His stories confront difficult and conflictual themes like poverty, homelessness and urban race relations, as well as mourning and social ostracism, but they do so without sentimentality.  Spinelli’s characters are never victims, but are tough survivors and often moral and spiritual heroes in his and their imagined worlds.

It is a challenge to psychoanalytic theory and practice to acknowledge the “enchanting” role of language on a day to day basis as we practice our “talking cure,” as well as to go beyond our normative developmental narratives in order to account for the survivors, the exceptions, and the morally courageous characters who have emerged from difficult environmental circumstances to transform their own lives and the lives of others in the process.

This symposium will provide an opportunity for explorations of language, of ‘enchantment’ in psychoanalysis and literature; of the reciprocal acts of imagination between author and reader involved in creating works of childrens’ literature; and,  the possibilities for transformation of the painful realities of ordinary childhood in both psychoanalysis and literature.  It will provide a forum for Jerry Spinelli’s work, for the work of other authors, as well as for works of theoretical, clinical and literary interest. Academics, psychoanalysts, graduate students and psychoanalytic candidates are encouraged to submit original papers on any aspects of the above.

Guidelines for submission:
Completed papers only. 8-10 pp.  No abstracts or proposals.
Names and identifying information on separate cover sheet only.
Deadline: February 15, 2014
Send papers to:  Elaine Zickler, PhD at mezickler@gmail.com

CFP: Happiness Conference in Oxford

Call for Papers: Happiness, Childhood, and Children's Literature

16th November 2013, St Hilda’s College, Oxford

www.childlithappiness.wordpress.com

"Novels, like paintings or music or sport, should hold out to children the promise of happiness, and the certainty of laughter." -Fred Inglis

Jean-Jacques Rousseau claims that children are born innocent and happy; all their educators need to do is protect this natural state of childhood from being contaminated by society. In the last few years, however, a radical reassessment of happiness has taken place in critical theory, through thinkers such as Sara Ahmed and Lauren Berlant. They point to the social construction of the idea of happiness, how it varies over history and geography, and is based on predominating social values. As such, “happiness” can work as an ideology that welcomes some kinds of lifestyles and excludes others. In particular, they emphasize the difference that gender and sexuality makes to conventional models of a “happy” life. Their resituating of happiness as a normative and often oppressive ideology brings us the opportunity to reassess the place of happiness in children’s literature.

No sustained study of happiness in children’s literature has taken place since Fred Inglis’ The Promise of Happiness: Values and Meaning in Children’s Fiction was published in 1981. Inglis suggests that children’s literature is exempt from the critique of happiness: "Whatever has happened to the idea of beauty and happiness in adult art, our children must keep faith with their radical innocence." However, such children’s books as John Burningham’s Granpa, Neil Gaiman’s The Wolves in the Walls, and Michael Rosen’s Sad Book deal with the loss of loved ones and of home. Such texts reject happy endings, and implicitly or explicitly, see and value more negative emotions such as mourning, fear, and depression in children. These texts raise the issue of the purpose of children’s literature: should it prepare children for sad truths, or shield children from them? In this way, such works move to redefine the "happy ending."

Should children’s literature play a role towards encouraging or defining happiness? How do cultural differences affect children’s happiness? This conference invites papers on happiness in English and French children’s literature or theorisations of childhood.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
-childhood “innocence”; criminal children; angelic children
-adult nostalgia; childhood idylls
-humour; play; fantasy; utopia
-unconventional modes of happiness; non-normative families; gender and sexuality
-dealing with death, tragedy and war
-representations of depression; angst; suicide
-Rousseau; Winnicott; Klein; childhood and affect
-cultural differences and happiness; post-colonial children’s literature
-adaptation, translation and changing values of happiness

Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be sent to childlithappiness@gmail.com by no later than 21st September 2013.

This one-day conference on Saturday 16th November 2013 at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, is organized by Queen Mary, University of London. We are fortunate to welcome keynotes on French and English children’s literature, highly successful children’s authors, and the renowned producer Martin Pope ) for what promises to be an exciting day.

Keynote Speakers:
Penelope Brown, University of Manchester
Anna Kemp, Queen Mary, University of London (author of Dogs Don’t Do Ballet)
Diane Purkiss, Keble College, University of Oxford (co-author of the Corydon series)
Martin Pope, producer of The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child films

CFP: Canon Conference at the University of Tübingen, Germany

Call for Papers: Canon Constitution and Canon Change in Children’s Literature

International Conference at the University of Tübingen, Germany, 11-13 September 2014

Although several scholars have investigated how national canons of children’s literature have developed, such historical approaches have mostly focused on aesthetic matters or on changing concepts of childhood. The impact of cultural concepts that are constitutive for the construction of cultural identities (so-called social imaginaries) on canon-formation has, on the other hand, been widely neglected. The same applies to a transnational perspective on canon constitution, which transcends national boundaries and instead locates children’s literature in a more comprehensive communicative space.

Issues that might be investigated in this respect are the presentation of children’s literature in literary histories, the historical contingency of the status of canonicity, the impact of social institutions and awards on the appreciation of certain types of children’s literature, the possible reasons for excluding or including particular children’s books from/into the canon, the conceptual shifts in the acknowledgement of children’s literature in national canons, the influence of genre preferences for canon constitution and the perception of a canon of children’s literature as a transnational phenomenon.

The purpose of this international conference is to bring together scholars of children’s literature from different countries who are especially interested in the topic of canon formation in children’s literature. We particularly invite papers dealing with one or several of the following topics:

• National vs. transnational canons;
• Paul Hazard and the idea of a “World Literature for Children”;
• Divergent canon concepts (Western Canon, European Canon, Global Canon, Multicultural Canon, Postcolonial Canon);
• The concept of the “Golden Age” and its impact on the canon of children’s literature;
• Genre preferences in canonization processes;
• The impact of institutions (e.g. libraries, museums, schools, literary societies, awards) on the development of the canon;
• Canons and social imaginaries;
• Reasons for inclusion or exclusion in literary histories; 
• Falling out of the canon: the challenges of forgotten children’s books; 
• Interfaces between the canons of children’s and adults’ literature; 
• Changing criteria for canonicity.

Contributions from academics interested in the close relationship between historical and theoretical perspectives of canon research in the realm of children’s literature are particularly welcome. The proceedings of the conference will be published in book form.

Deadline for proposals: 31 July 2013.

Please send abstracts of c. 300 words (for a twenty-minute paper) and a short biographical note (c. 100 words) as e-mail attachments (Word format please) to both convenors, Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer: bettina.kuemmerling-meibauer@uni-tuebingen.de and Anja Müller: am.englit-si@muelleranja.eu

Notification whether proposals have been accepted will be made by 31 August 2013.

The conference venue is Schloss Hohentübingen, a beautiful 16th-century castle in the picturesque university town of Tübingen (close to Stuttgart international airport). For details, visit http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/museum-schloss/schloss.html

SPA/ACYIG Conference on Childhood Studies This Week

2013 Biennial Meeting of the
Society for Psychological Anthropology
With the Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group

Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego, CA
April 4-7, 2013

If you're around this week and interested in an anthropological approach to the study of children (literature or otherwise), consider visiting the SPA/ACYIG conference to hear different perspective on Childhood Studies. SDSU’s Dr. Elisa Sobo is presenting on “Play” on Friday which may be of particular interest to some. Grad Student Kelsey Wadman will also be there, participating in the poster sessions.

 

Some details about the conference:

For the first time the Society for Psychological Anthropology biennial meeting will be held jointly with the Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group (ACYIG).

Psychological anthropology examines the relation among social processes, cultural meanings, and human subjectivities.  Psychological anthropologists study topics such as narrative, identity, experience, emotion, memory, discourse, belief, motivation, conceptualization, gender, sexuality, trauma, mental illness, stigmatization, and psychological development in social and cultural contexts.
The anthropology of children and youth is the cross-cultural and ethnographic examination of infants, children, youth, and adolescents.  It examines such topics as child development across time and space (physical, cognitive, emotional, social); parenting, childcare, and childrearing around the world; the evolution of childhood; the impact of globalization on children and their families and communities; child health; child education and learning; child participation in their cultures; the socio-historical construction of childhood; child agency and vulnerability; children’s rights; the political lives of children; and critical studies of childhood.

In addition to panels and discussion groups, we will also schedule plenary sessions, coffee breaks, and receptions that will bring our group together and facilitate informal conversation and networking. 

Saturday afternoon the ACYIG will hold a business meeting.  There will be a banquet on Saturday night, highlighted by presentation of the SPA Lifetime Achievement Awards to Anthony Wallace and to Jean Lave.

Registration for the SPA /ACYIG Biennial Meeting on April 4-7th, 2013 in San Diego is now open. Click here. The registration fee for professionals is $125 and a reduced rate of $60 for students. One-day conference rates for professionals are $50 and $25 for students. These fees cover all conference costs including meeting room rentals, audio / visual equipment, programs, etc.

Find all the info HERE

CFP: Journal of Graduate Research in Young People's Materials and Culture

Call For Papers

Journal of Graduate Research in Young People’s Materials and Culture (JGR)

Based at the University of British Columbia the Journal of Graduate Research in Young People’s Materials and Culture (JGR) is a peer-reviewed open-access e-journal publishing graduate student research in the areas of children’s and young adult literature, childhood studies, and cultural studies related to children and young people.

We are currently selecting manuscripts for our winter 2013 issue. Papers on any children’s or young adult genres are welcome as are papers that discuss other children’s materials such as film, virtual texts, or graphic novels. Possible paper topics could include but are not limited to:

• The child or young adult as explorer/explored, navigator/navigated
• Navigating (or negotiating) identity, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity or religion as a child or young adult in an adult world
• Literary trends such as the history/future of children’s texts
• Pathways of adaptation such as literary translations of texts to film, games, merchandise, graphic novels, or online spaces
• Exploring place and spaces of childhood or adolescence
• Cultural, physical, psychological, ideological, or literary restrictions and barriers to exploration and imagination
• Childhood and adolescent development as it pertains to literature, new materials, other modalities
• Children, young adults, and cross-cultural exposure

JGR accepts article submissions by current and recent graduate students relevant to the field of children’s and young adult literature and materials. All submissions will be peer reviewed. To ensure an objective peer review process please submit personally identifying content (such as your biographical sketch and contact information) as a separate document attached to your submission.

Submissions must be completed original manuscripts not submitted elsewhere, written in English, 5,000 – 8,000 words (including Endnotes and Works Cited), and should conform to the MLA Handbook, 7th edition. Please submit essays electronically along with a 150-word abstract and 50-word biographical sketch via Word attachments to jgr.submission@yahoo.ca or online through the OJS system at http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/ypmc/index.

Deadline for submissions is 15 February 2013. Publication is scheduled for late 2013.

For more information, visit the journal’s website at http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/ypmc/index
You may also contact the editors Karen Taylor karen.taylor@alumni.ubc.ca or Robert Bittner rob1@sfu.ca.

CFP: Biennial Meeting of the Society for Psychological Anthropology along with the Anthropology of Children & Youth Interest Group

Call for Papers 

Biennial Meeting of the Society for Psychological Anthropology, in conjunction with the Anthropology of Children & Youth Interest Group

April 4-7, 2013

Hyatt Regency Mission Bay, San Diego, CA

proposal deadline: December 18, 2012

For the first time the Society for Psychological Anthropology biennial meeting will be held jointly with the Anthropology of Children and Youth Interest Group (ACYIG). Psychological anthropology examines the relation among social processes, cultural meanings and human subjectivities. Psychological anthropologists study topics such as narrative, identity, experience, emotion, memory, discourse, belief, motivation, conceptualization, gender, sexuality, trauma, mental illness, stigmatization and psychological development in social and cultural contexts.

The anthropology of children and youth is the cross-cultural and ethnographic examination of infants, children, youth and adolescents. It examines such topics as child development across time and space (physical, cognitive, emotional, social); parenting, childcare and child-rearing around the world; the evolution of childhood; the impact of globalization on children and their families and communities; child health; child education and learning; children’s participation in their cultures; the socio-historical construction of childhood; child agency and vulnerability; children’s rights; the political lives of children; and critical studies of childhood.

For this biennial we welcome proposals for panels and papers representing innovative work in either field. Historical, applied and methodological topics are welcome as well.

In addition to panels and discussion groups, we will also schedule plenary sessions, coffee breaks and receptions that will bring our group together and facilitate informal conversation and networking. Saturday afternoon the ACYIG will hold a business meeting. There will be a banquet on Saturday night, highlighted by presentation of the SPA Lifetime Achievement Awards to Anthony Wallace and Jean Lave.

Panel, Discussion Group and Paper Submissions

The deadline for submitting panel and paper proposals is December 18, 2012, but earlier submissions are encouraged. Proposals for panels, groups, and papers should be SUBMITTED HERE.

Both individual papers (15 minutes) and full panels (1 hour and 45 minutes) are welcome. Younger scholars are particularly encouraged to suggest panel, paper or discussion group topics. Abstracts are required for individually submitted papers, for panels and for each paper on a panel (panel abstract and abstracts for the papers on the panel should be submitted together) and no abstract should be longer than 250 words.

Each participant is allowed to have two formal roles: to give a paper, and to be a discussant. However, we encourage the submission of less formal sessions as well. In these less formal sessions, participation does not count against the two-role rule. A discussion session can be formed by listing people who will speak for no more than five minutes, and then opening up the floor to general discussion. In this case, the session requires a session abstract but no abstracts from participants. A workshop is a focused discussion around a practical theme: for example, publication venues, team ethnography, specific methods, etc. Again, the workshop format presumes that papers are not given and the primary focus is discussion. A workshop requires a workshop abstract, but no abstracts from participants. Film and poster proposals are also welcome.  

Registration
Information on the registration process is forthcoming.

The Conference Hotel and Venue
The meeting will be held at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego, CA. The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay and Marina is a resort near Sea World. It features waterfront rooms, a health club, spa, fire pits, water slides and a marina with kayaks and whale excursions. Workers at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay are represented by UNITE-HERE. This hotel is on the approved list of the AAA Committee on Labor Relations.

For more information, contact Claudia Strauss (SPA President): 
claudia_strauss@pitzer.edu

CFP: Comics, Picturebooks and Childhood

Call for Papers: Special issue Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics (http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcom20/current)

Special Issue Editors: Dr. Mel Gibson (University of Northumbria), Dr. Kay Sambell (University of Northumbria), Dr. Golnar Nabizadeh (The University of Western Australia).

This special edition will explore links between graphic novels and comics in relation to childhood. Both have been studied in relation to how they work (key examples being Maria Nikoljeva and Carole Scott's How Picturebooks Work and Thierry Groensteen's The System of Comics). The history, specific creators, culture and audiences for these media have also been areas of research. Focusing on the links across illustration, graphic narratives and visual culture, this special issue will offer critical examinations of the field of comics and picturebooks.

Comics and picturebooks are not typically considered together, although some research has done so, including Mel Gibson's article "Graphic Novels, Comics and Picturebooks" in the Routledge Companion to Children's Literature and David Lewis's "Oops!: Colin McNaughton and 'Knowingness'" in Children’s Literature in Education.

In relation to audience, comics and picturebooks have frequently been associated with younger readers, despite the two being very flexible media which can be used to address readers of all ages on any topic. When such assumptions are dominant, this is usually related to perceptions of what might be ‘appropriate’ content.

Sometimes controversy is about an entire medium, as John A. Lent outlines in "Comics Controversies and Codes: Reverberations in Asia." This chapter, in the book Pulp Demons: International Dimensions of the Postwar Anti-Comics Campaign, examined how manga comics were seen as having an impact upon the health and morals of young people in South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Taiwan between the 1940s and the 1980s.

Equally, controversy might focus on a single text, as was the case in relation to the British publication of Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin by Suzanne Bösche (originally published in Denmark as Mette bor hos Morten og Erik), one of the first picturebooks focusing on homosexuality and family structure. This single text was a key element in Britain in the introduction of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which forbade the "promotion" of homosexuality by local government.

In both of these cases, what may be seen to underpin controversy relating to these media are social constructions of childhood, a concept developed within Childhood Studies and perhaps best illustrated by Allison James and Alan Prout in the book Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood.

This issue also constitutes an attempt to extend the scope of scholarship on the comic and the picturebook beyond US/UK and European critical frameworks by highlighting Asian and Australian visual cultures and contexts.

Suggested topics for proposals include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Creators who work with both these media, such as Raymond Briggs and Shaun Tan.

- Picturebook creators who are influenced by comics. For example, the ways in which the work of Maurice Sendak is influenced by that of Winsor McCay.

- Comics for children and constructions of childhood

- Controversies around comics, picturebooks, childhood and child readers

- Defining the borders and emerging areas in comic book scholarship

- Manga, comics and picturebooks

- Comic book conventions and avant-garde innovations

- Divergences and intersections between comic books and picturebooks

- When and how does a comic book creator become perceived as a picture book creator?

- In what ways do constructions of childhood as innocent and vulnerable impact what is considered suitable content in a comic or picture book?

Deadline for proposals for 5000-7000 word articles is March 31, 2013 (for issue 5:1, June/July 2014 of the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rcom20/current). Send proposals to Dr. Mel Gibson at mel.gibson@northumbria.ac.uk.

YA and Child Lit on Immigrants and Hard Times

I came across a list of YA books at The Nerdy Book Club today on the immigrant experience that forced me to reflect on my own heritage and lack of awareness on the literature that best serves the needs of mine and my culture's identity. At some point in my adulthood I realized that even though as a child I had no problem identifying with my parents (hard-working, brilliant doctors who moved here from Pakistan before I was born), our faith, and our sometimes overwhelming culture/community, I never explored anything other than the mainstream literature easily nabbed and consumed at my school library or book stores. So I read it all, and certainly identified with many characters: shy or quiet book lovers, tomboys, middle children, wildly imaginative and twice as stubborn. But the cultural element was always absent. I look back now and wonder how it might have helped and prepared me to relate to "the experience" of the characters rather than only their "traits."
And now, with the direction world politics and dynamics have taken, I am curious what novels are out there for young adults from Muslim families, of Pakistani, Indian, or Middle Eastern descent.  Because I am still far too unfamiliar for my liking.

At any rate, this list was compiled to directly highlight the immigrant struggles of many cultures--Mexican(Crossing the Wire), Japanese (Farewell to Manzanar), and Sudanese (The Good Braider) to name a few. It is a compelling collection and one can still find solidarity and empathy reading any one of these novels no matter your own ethnicity. In fact, the description of each book includes a "common immigrant issue" and does well to narrow in on the pressures and pains particular to childhood. Find the list HERE.

~~~~
A separate issue, at times relevant to the immigrant struggle but certainly not exclusive to it, is economic hardship. An article in the Kansas City Star discusses one educator's work towards understanding children's literature and an economic education. As a result, Lynn Strover pulled together a short list of books that teach children about the value of money, the freedom it enables, and how to deal with hard times. For kids witnessing their parents' unemployment or the growing need to cutback on expenditures and luxuries, the lessons of these books may serve as a guide for them.  One example is:

Potato: A Tale of the Great Depression. Set in Kansas, this story by Kate Lied focuses on eight-year-old Dorothy who sets off for Idaho with her family in a borrowed car after her father had lost his job. Arriving in Idaho, they work day and night picking the potatoes that will help them survive the depression. In its own way, the story teaches children about the concepts of bartering and trading and getting by with little money.

The Harry Potter books are also featured, which makes sense considering the monetary system created solely for the books, as well as the banking system and issues of wealth versus lower economic classes that come up frequently.

You can view the article and the entire list HERE.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/19/3874614/kids-money-try-harry-potter-to.html#storylink=cpy

Call for Papers: 40th Annual Children's Literature Association Conference

call for papers 

The 40th Annual Children's Literature Association Conference

Play and Risk in Children’s and Young Adult Literature and Culture

Hosted by The University of Southern Mississippi

June 13-15, 2013

IP Resort

Biloxi, Mississippi

The 40th Annual Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) Conference will address play and risk in children’s and young adult (YA) literature and culture. Much of John Newbery’s A Pretty Little Pocket-Book, one of the first books to mark the emergence of children’s literature as a successful commercial enterprise, is devoted to teaching the alphabet through play and games. Innovators of children’s literature have taken risks in building businesses or careers around the notion of pleasurable works for children, just as the scholars who gathered for the first ChLA convention in 1974 and those who followed have taken risks to establish the professional study of the “Great Excluded.” Thus, from its beginnings as both literary and scholarly enterprise, children’s literature has been linked with play and risk. Many classic and contemporary works for young people represent children or young adults entertaining themselves or taking chances. The March sisters put on plays in Little Women, and Beth risks her own life to care for the Hummel baby; Alice plays croquet in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and risks losing her head; Peter and Wendy play house in Peter Pan and risk being killed or kidnapped by Captain Hook. Play and risk are everywhere in children’s and YA literature and culture.

We invite paper or panel proposals on the following topics:

• Play and games in children’s and YA literature and culture
• Children’s games as texts
• Children’s theatre and drama or school plays
• Linguistic, stylistic, or formal play in children’s and YA literature
• Game theory or risk theory in children’s and YA literature and culture
• Role-play, performance, or performativity in children’s and YA literature and culture
• Childhood/adolescence as play, playing at childhood/adolescence
• Video games and/as children’s and YA literature
• Sports or competition in children’s and YA literature and culture
• Winning and losing in children’s and YA literature and culture
• Risk-taking in children’s and YA literature and culture
• Uncertainty or chance in children’s and YA literature and culture
• The personal or professional risks of studying, writing, or reading children’s and YA literature
• The disclosure of “at risk” youth
• How children’s and YA literature or culture put children at risk
• The risks of how children and childhood are constructed or experienced
• Playing with race, class, gender, or sexuality in children’s and YA literature and culture

The submission window for 300-500 word paper proposals will be open between October 15, 2012 and January 15, 2013.

Professor Emeritus Jerry Griswold to Speak on Fairy Tales at the University of Florida

Jerry Griswold (Professor Emeritus from SDSU's children's literature program) will be talking about "Beauties & Beasts @ Halloween" at the University of Florida (Gainesville) on October 30. His lecture will be part of the university's GrimmFest (a celebration of the two-hundred-year anniversary of the publication of the Grimms' fairy tales) and will be followed by a lecture by Harvard scholar Maria Tatar on November 13. Details at: http://www.english.ufl.edu/events.html 

The following day, October 31, Griswold will be meeting with Professor Kenneth Kidd's graduate seminar on Childhood Studies where he will be discussing "the future of children's literature criticism." While there, he plans to meet with former SDSU graduate students Latoya Faughander and Sean Printz, who are now enrolled in Florida's Ph.D. program.

Job Announcement: Assistant Professor of Children's Literature or Childhood Studies, University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh has received the green light, pending budgetary approval, to hire an assistant professor in the area of twentieth-century children's literature or childhood studies. SDSU Child Lit is excited to share this unofficial posting with our colleagues who may be on the market or going on the market. Special thanks to Marah Gubar, associate professor of English and part of Pitt's children's literature program, for sending this information along. Keep an eye out on Pitt's website or the MLA job information list for the official posting.

Job Opportunity: Twentieth-Century Children’s Literature or Childhood Studies

The Department of English at the University of Pittsburgh anticipates a position as an Assistant Professor in Twentieth-Century Children’s Literature or Childhood Studies to begin Fall Semester, 2013, pending budgetary approval.

We seek candidates with both scholarly and teaching interests in the field of youth literature or culture who are keen to help us build our current Children’s Literature Program into a more interdisciplinary Childhood Studies Program. To that end, we welcome applications from twentieth- or twenty-first-century literature scholars whose work features a strong focus on childhood or adolescence, but also from scholars with commitments to other disciplines such as History, Art History, Sociology, Film, TV or Performance Studies, and so on. Children’s Literature scholars whose work cuts across historical periods are also encouraged to apply, especially those who specialize in picture books or young adult literature.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to teach undergraduate courses on children’s literature and culture as well as a wide range of other undergraduate literature courses and graduate seminars in his or her areas of scholarly interest. The teaching load is normally four courses per year. Salaries are competitive, and tenure is awarded for excellence in research, teaching and service. Candidates must have a PhD by September 1, 2013.

The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and members of minority groups under-represented in academia are especially encouraged to apply.