Ludic Geopolitics: children's play, war toys and re-enchantment with the British military

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Militarism/securitisation is increasingly imprinting on everyday geographies well beyond areas of actual armed conflict. Through an innovative focus on children's war play, this project addresses the need to understand mundane aspects of security alongside large-scale actions on the national and global stage. The taken-for-granted nature of children's play means it is typically excluded from important discussions of security, and thus its role in making military technologies and logics banal-like goes unchallenged. Working in partnership with the Museum of Childhood (MOC) - a branch of the internationally-renowned V&A Museum specialising in the delivery of family activities/educational outreach programmes - this project analyses how military technologies and logics are made banal-like through children's play with action figures, and thus the role of toys in the making of the citizen.Since the 1990s, increasing attention has been paid to how geographies of global politics are represented through popular culture, such as films, radio and magazines. Despite the enduring war play debate, children and toys have typically been excluded from these discussions. A grounded cultural commentary on war play and how children develop understanding of geopolitical climates is urgently needed.Using the contemporary HM Armed Forces (HMAF) action figure range (licensed by the Ministry of Defence and one of the strongest new brands in the toy industry) as a central case study, this research analyses the design and interpretation of the British military action figure. Based on an innovative methodology developed as part of previous ESRC awards, this project uses interlinking strands of trade, museum and home based ethnographic research to ask:1. How has the history of the British action figure been shaped by wider geopolitical climates?2. What geopolitical narratives have shaped, and are shaped by HMAF toys?4. How do children make sense of contemporary geopolitics through play with HMAF toys?5. How can toys be used as an educational tool for understanding historical/contemporary geopolitical climates?Encouraging dialogue between researchers in the social sciences, this project expands the concept of the 'military industrial media entertainment complex' to consider how play and toys shape/are shaped by imaginations and practices of warfare. This research has benefits for a wide range of audiences:*Academics studying security/geopolitics/international relations/childhood*Project partner and similar institutions interested in public understanding of military activities/war play*Educators charged with developing notions of citizenship and understanding of geopolitical climates*Security think tanks interested in public understanding of war and conflict*Military outreach personnel interested in the development of political subjectivity and its role in public support*Parents/wider public interested in the ongoing war play debateTo maximise the impact of this project, the following activities are planned:*Production of academic papers for journals/conferences and a co-authored monograph*Evaluative/methodological reports for project partner and similar institutions*Educational resources for War Games exhibition hosted at the MOC and travelling nationwide*Inclusion of war play in existing ESRC website about children's use of toys*2 research-based events for the beneficiaries named above, with public lecture element*Media press releases, regularly updated academic/project partner blogs and Twitter feeds to generate interest/circulate findingsThus, this award will foster interdisciplinary working between researchers in human geography, childhood studies and geopolitics/international relations/security studies; capacity building in child-centred creative methodologies; facilitate knowledge exchange between academics and the above named beneficiaries; and enhance education through research-led teaching.