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

军国主义/证券化在日常地理上的影响越来越大，远远超出了实际武装冲突地区。通过对儿童战争游戏的创新关注，该项目解决了理解安全的世俗方面以及国家和全球舞台上大规模行动的需求。儿童游戏被认为是理所当然的，这意味着它通常被排除在重要的安全讨论之外，因此它在使军事技术和逻辑平庸化方面的作用无人质疑。该项目与儿童博物馆（MOC）合作，该博物馆是国际知名的V&A博物馆的一个分支机构，专门从事家庭活动/教育推广项目的提供。该项目分析了军事技术和逻辑是如何通过儿童与动作人物的游戏而变得平庸的，从而分析了玩具在塑造公民中的作用。自20世纪90年代以来，人们越来越关注如何通过流行文化，如电影、广播和杂志来表现全球政治的地理。尽管关于战争剧的争论经久不衰，但儿童和玩具通常被排除在这些讨论之外。迫切需要对战争游戏和儿童如何发展对地缘政治气候的理解进行有根据的文化评论。使用当代HM武装部队（HMAF）人偶系列（由国防部授权，是玩具行业最强大的新品牌之一）作为中心案例研究，本研究分析了英国军事人偶的设计和解释。基于一种创新的方法，该方法是ESRC先前奖项的一部分，该项目利用贸易、博物馆和基于家庭的民族志研究的相互联系，提出以下问题：英国人偶的历史如何受到更广泛的地缘政治气候的影响？什么样的地缘政治叙事塑造了HMAF玩具，又被HMAF玩具塑造了？孩子们如何通过玩HMAF玩具来理解当代地缘政治？玩具如何被用作理解历史/当代地缘政治气候的教育工具？该项目鼓励社会科学研究人员之间的对话，扩展了“军事工业媒体娱乐综合体”的概念，以考虑游戏和玩具是如何被想象和战争实践塑造的。这项研究对广泛的受众有好处：*研究安全/地缘政治/国际关系/童年的学者*对公众理解军事活动/战争戏剧感兴趣的项目合作伙伴和类似机构*负责发展公民观念和理解地缘政治气候的教育工作者*对公众理解战争和冲突感兴趣的安全智库*对政治主体性发展感兴趣的军事外联人员*对正在进行的战争剧辩论感兴趣的家长/更广泛的公众为了使这个项目的影响最大化，计划开展以下活动：*为期刊/会议撰写学术论文和合著专著*为项目合作伙伴和类似机构撰写评估/方法报告*为在MOC举办并在全国巡回的战争游戏展览提供教育资源*在现有的ESRC网站上包含关于儿童使用玩具的战争游戏*为上述受益者举办的2个基于研究的活动，并包含公开讲座元素*媒体新闻稿；因此，该奖项将促进人文地理学、儿童研究和地缘政治/国际关系/安全研究领域的研究人员之间的跨学科工作；以儿童为中心的创造性方法的能力建设；促进学术界与上述受惠人之间的知识交流；通过研究型教学加强教育。

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.