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

军国主义/证券化正日益在实际武装冲突地区以外的日常地理区域留下印记。通过对儿童战争剧的创新关注，该项目解决了在国家和全球舞台上了解安全的平凡方面以及大规模行动的需要。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变得陈腐方面的作用不会受到挑战。该项目与儿童博物馆(MOC)合作，分析军事技术和逻辑是如何通过儿童与动作人偶的游戏变得平庸的，从而分析玩具在公民塑造中的作用。自20世纪90年代以来，人们越来越关注如何通过电影、广播和杂志等流行文化来代表全球政治的地理位置。尽管战争游戏的争论由来已久，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扎实的文化评论。本研究以当代HM武装部队(HMAF)动作人物系列(由国防部授权，玩具行业最强大的新品牌之一)为中心，分析英国军事动作人物的设计和解释。这个项目基于作为以前ESRC奖项一部分开发的创新方法，使用贸易、博物馆和基于家庭的人种学研究的相互关联的链来提问：1.英国行动人物的历史是如何被更广泛的地缘政治气候塑造的？2.HMAF玩具塑造了什么地缘政治叙事？4.孩子们如何通过玩HMAF玩具来理解当代地缘政治？5.玩具如何被用作理解历史/当代地缘政治气候的教育工具？鼓励社会科学研究人员之间的对话，这个项目扩展了“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战争的想象和实践塑造的。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/战争剧感兴趣的项目合作伙伴和类似机构*负责发展公民身份概念和理解地缘政治气候的教育者*对公众对战争和冲突的理解感兴趣的安全智库*对政治主体性的发展及其在公众支持中的作用感兴趣的军事外展人员*对正在进行的战争剧辩论感兴趣的父母/更广泛的公众为了最大限度地发挥该项目的影响，计划开展以下活动：*为期刊/会议和共同撰写的专著撰写学术论文*为项目伙伴和类似机构编写评价性/方法论报告*在交通部举办战争游戏教育资源展览，并在全国各地巡回演出*在现有ESRC网站上纳入关于儿童使用玩具的战争游戏*为上述受益者举办2次基于研究的活动，并提供公开演讲元素*媒体新闻稿、定期更新学术/项目合作伙伴博客和推特订阅以引起兴趣/传播研究成果因此，该奖项将促进人文地理学、儿童学和地缘政治/国际关系/安全研究领域的研究人员之间的跨学科合作；加强以儿童为中心的创造性方法方面的能力建设；促进学术界与上述受益者之间的知识交流；并通过以研究为主导的教学加强教育。

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.