| Class |
Reading |
Lab/Dates of Note |
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Unit One:
Introduction
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I. Wednesday, Feb. 2
Introduction
|
- Henry Jenkins, "Childhood Innocence and Other
Modern Myths";
- William Kessen, "The American Child and Other Cultural Inventions"
- Jean Briggs, "Mazes of Meaning: How a Child and a Culture
Create Each Other" (read ONLY the first two pages)
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II. Monday, Feb. 7
The Historical Evolution of Childhood
|
- Philippe Aries, "From Immodesty to Innocence";
- Viviana A. Zelizer, "From Useful to Useless: Moral Conflict Over
Child Labor"
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III. Wednesday, Feb. 9
Children in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Quality Time & Tough Love
|
- Theodore Zeldin, "How to Interpret the
Anger of Teenagers" and "How Children Deal with their Parents";
- Jean Briggs, "Mazes
of Meaning: How a Child and a Culture Create Each Other" (read
the whole essay)
- View Interrogative Questions
|
Lab: Margaret Mead film on France and India.
Feb. 10 -11: MIT Conference on Computer Games.
|
IV. Monday, Feb. 14
Rousseau and the primitive child |
- Jean Jacques Rousseau,"Book Two";
- Theodore Zeldin "Children";
- Carlo Collodi, The Adventures of Pinocchio
- View Interrogative Questions
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V. Wednesday, Feb. 16
The Developing Child |
- Erik Erikson, "Toys and Reasons"
and "Eight Ages of Man";
- Lev Vygotsky, "Tool and Symbol in Child Development" and
"The Role of Play in Development"
- View Interrogative Questions |
Lab: The Secret Garden
Feb. 17: Anne Higonnet, Pictures of Innocence.
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Monday, February 21 is an Institute Holiday.
Classes will be held the next day.
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Unit Two:
Sexuality
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VI. Tuesday, Feb. 23
Responding to Children's Sexuality |
- Sigmund Freud, section II and III, Three Essays on the Theory
of Sexuality;
- Bronislaw Malinowski, section I, V, and VI, "The
Formation of a Complex"
- View Interrogative Questions
|
|
VII. Wednesday, Feb. 24
Representing the Erotic Child |
- Anne Higonnet, "Photographs Against
the Law";
- Henry Jenkins, "The Sensuous Child: Benjamin Spock and the Sexual
Revolution"
- View Interrogative Questions
|
Lab: La Vie en Rose. |
VIII. Monday, February 28
Gender Non-Comformity |
- Eve Sedgewick, "How to Bring Your Kids Up Gay";
- Sara Cytron with Harriet Malinowitz, "Butch in a Tutu";
- Michael Lassell, "Boys Don't Do That"
- View Interrogative Questions
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Unit Three:
Play and Language
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IX. Wednesday, March 1
Play and Reality |
- D.W. Winnicott, "Playing: A Theoretical Statement"
and "The Location of Cultural Experience";
- Gregory Bateson, "A Theory of Play and Fantasy";
- Suzanne Gaskins, "How Mayan Parental Theories Come into Play"
- View Interrogative Questions
|
Lab: Troubriand Cricket/Film on Children's Stories.
March 2: A conversation between Henry Jenkins and Jon Katz on youth
culture.
|
X. Monday, March 6
Language as Game |
- Jerome Bruner and Joann Lucariello, "Monologue as Narrative
Recreation of the World";
- Cassell et al., Renga webpage and WISE webpage (http://gn.www.media.mit.edu/groups/gn/)
- View Interrogative Questions
|
|
XI. Wednesday, March 8
Case Study of Barbie |
- Erica Rand, "Older Heads on Younger Bodies,";
- Nancie Martin interview
- View Interrogative Questions
|
Lab: Toy-TV tie-ins (Pokemos, Sailor Moon, Power Rangers)
March 9: Erica Rand
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XII. Monday, March 13
Gendering of Play |
- E. Anthony Rotundo, "Boy Culture";
- Miriam Formanek-Brunnell, "The Politics of Dollhood in Nineteenth-Century
America";
- Justine Cassell, "Calling it the Way You See it: French Children's
Labels and Schemas for Gender Information"
- View Interrogative Questions |
|
XIII. Wednesday, March 15
Toys and Culture |
- Cassell et al., "Shared Reality: Physical Collaboration
with a Virtual Peer";
- Lois Rostow Kuznets, "On the Couch with Calvin, Hobbes, and
Winnie the Pooh"
- View Interrogative Questions
|
Lab: Toy Story. |
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Week of March 20 - 24 is Spring Vacation, No
Classes
|
XIV. Monday, March 27
The Girls Game Movement |
- Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins, "Chess
for Girls"; Interview with Brenda Laurel; Game Grrls
- View Interrogative Questions |
|
Unit Four:
Literature |
XV. Wednesday, March 29
The Problem of Children's Literature |
- Jacqueline S. Rose, "The Case of Peter Pan:
The Impossibility of Children's Fiction";
- Marjorie Garber, "Fear of Flying or Why Is Peter Pan a Woman?";
- Maria Tatar, "'Violent Delights' in Children's Literature"
- View Interrogative Questions
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Lab: Peter Pan (Mary Martin).
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XVI. Monday, April 3
From Folk Tales to Children's Literature |
- Robert Darnton, "Peasants Tell Tales";
- J.K. Rowlings, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
- View Interrogative Questions |
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XVII. Wednesday, April 5
Walt Disney and Doctor Seuss: Two Visions of Childhood |
- Henry Jenkins, "No Matter How Small: The
Democratic Imagination of Doctor Seuss";
- Nicholas Sammond, "Manufacturing the American Child: Child-rearing
and the Rise of Walt Disney"
-View Interrogative Questions |
Lab: 5000 Fingers of Dr. T
|
Unit Five:
Children as Instigators |
XVIII. Monday, April 10
Children as Cultural Producers |
- Allison James, "Confections, Concoctions,
and Conceptions";
- Shelby Anne Wolf and Shirley Brice Heath, "Living in a
World of Words"
-View Interrogative Questions |
|
XIX. Wednesday, April 12
Children as Technologists |
- Seymour Papert (1980), "Computers for Children" (Introduction)
and "Turtle Geometry: a Mathematics Made for Learning"
(Chapter 3);
- Mitch Resnick., Amy Bruckman, and Fred Martin "Pianos Not
Stereos: Creating Computational Construction Kits";
- Justine Cassell, "Feminist Design Software"
-View Interrogative Questions
|
Lab: Lego Mindstorms. |
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Monday, April 17 is a holiday. No Classes
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XX. Wednesday, April 19
Children as Storytellers |
- Carolyn Steedman, "The Tidy House";
- Peggy Miller et al., "Narrative Practices and the
Social Construction of Self in Childhood";
- Justine Cassell & Kimiko Ryokai, "Making Space for Voice"
-View Interrogative Questions
|
Lab: Renga, StoryMat, other storytelling toys/games. |
XXI. Monday, April 24
Play and Moral Development |
- Carol Gilligan, "Woman's Place in Man's
Life Cycle";
- Lawrence Kohlberg, "Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cognitive-Developmental
Approach" (Chapter 2) and "The Six Stages of Justice Judgement"
(Appendix A)
- Optional: Kohlberg, "The Current Formulation of the Theory"
(Chapter 3)
-View Interrogative Questions |
|
Unit Six:
Moral and Political Issues |
XXII. Wednesday, April 26
Violence and Child's Play |
- Joanne Cantor, "'But it's Only Make-Believe':
Fantasy, Fiction and Fear";
- David Gauntlett, "Ten Things Wrong with the Effects Model"; (http://www.theory.org.uk/effects.htm)
- Brian Stetler, "Video Games Under Fire"
(http://www.nintendojo.com/enter/specials/underfire/)
-View Interrogative Questions |
Lab: Song of the South, Mulan. |
XXIII. Monday, May 1
Cultural and Racial Stereotypes |
Herbert R. Kohl, "Shall We Burn Babar?"
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XXIV. Wednesday, May 3
The Commercialization of Children's Culture |
- Heather Hendershot, "Action for (and
Against) Children's television,";
- Ellen Seiter, "Children's Desire's/Mother's Dilemmas";
- Gene Del Vecchio, "Touch the Boy's Psyche" and "Touch
the Girl's Psyche"
-View Interrogative Questions |
|
XXV. Monday, May 8
Childhood Online |
- Jon Katz, "The Rights of Children";
- Don Tapscott, "The N-Gen Mind";
- Amy Bruckman, "Community Support for Constructionist Learning"
(http://www.cc.gatech.edu/%7Easb/papers/cscw.html)
-View Interrogative Questions
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XXVI. Wednesday, May 10
Wrap-up |
- Neal Stephenson, The Diamond Age
-View Interrogative Questions |
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