Drawing on extensive research over more than two decades, this book focuses on toys and games as resources for play. It analyses their functionalities as well as their symbolic meaning potentials, exemplifying how they are used in different contexts, such as home and preschool, and how these uses are regulated by parental, pedagogic and marketing discourses.
Building on the work of semioticians such as Barthes, Baudrillard and Krampen, as well as on the social semiotics of Halliday, Hodge, Kress, and others, the book introduces a framework for the multimodal semiotic analysis of physical objects, and the ways in which they are digitally translated into words, images and sounds. It also introduces a multimodal framework with a focus on designs for and in learning. It then applies these frameworks to a range of toys and games for young children including teddy bears, dolls, construction toys, war toys and digital games. Throughout it shows how the toy and games industry contributes to changing the nature of childhood and the way children learn about the world.
Accessibly written, the book will not only be relevant to students and scholars of multimodality and semiotics, but also to early childhood educators and parents of young children.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
An intriguing look into children's toys and games and the underlying views and ideologies
that inform them, their use and their rules. * Arlene Archer, University of Cape Town, South Africa *
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Zielgruppe
Produkt-Hinweis
Broschur/Paperback
Klebebindung
Illustrationen
Maße
Höhe: 234 mm
Breite: 156 mm
Dicke: 25 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-1-350-32493-0 (9781350324930)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Theo van Leeuwen is Professor of Language and Communication at the University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.
Staffan Selander is Professor Emeritus in Education/Didactic Science at the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Sweden.
Autor*in
University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
List of Figures
Foreword
1. A Social Semiotic Approach to Toys as Resources for Learning
2. Baby Toys: The Alphabet of Objects
3. Teddy Bears: Affect in the Private and the Public Sphere
4. Small Worlds: The Imaginary Power of Miniatures
5. Barbie: Feminist Icon or Fashion Doll?
6. Building Toys: Elements of Construction and their Meaning
7. War Toys: Masculinity and the Politics of Warfare
8. Digitizing Children's Stories: The Pedagogization of Enchantment
9. The Rules of Games and the Rules of Social Life
10. Conclusion: The Semiosphere of Toys and Games
Appendix: A Guide to the Semiotic Analysis of Objects
References
Index
