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Call for Papers—Exploring Childhood Studies, A Graduate Student Conference
Call for Papers—Exploring Childhood Studies, A Graduate Student Conference
Department of Childhood Studies
Rutgers University, Camden
CFP: American Play: Sports, Games, Entertainment, and Fantasy in American Culture
CFP: AMERICAN PLAY
Announcement Expires On: 01/15/2008
CALL FOR PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
AMERICAN PLAY: SPORTS, GAMES, ENTERTAINMENT, AND FANTASY IN AMERICAN CULTURE
A special international conference jointly sponsored by the Middle Atlantic American Studies Association (http://www.hbg.psu.edu/hbg/research/maasa) and the Great Lakes American Studies Association (http://www.ohiou.edu/glasa) in Rochester, New York, USA, in cooperation with the Strong National Museum of Play(r).
Date of Conference: April 4-5, 2008
Deadline for Submission of Proposals: December 14, 2007
Electronic Submission: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Location: Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York (http://www.strongmuseum.org) USA.
Conference Hotel: Hyatt Regency Rochester
Contact: Professor Simon J. Bronner, American Studies Program, The Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, 777 West Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057-4898 USA, 717-948-6039 (o), 717-948-6724 (fax), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Proposals for papers and presentations are invited for a special conference addressing the theme of “American Play: Sports, Games, Entertainment, and Fantasy in American Culture” to be held at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, April 4-5, 2008. Play is conceived broadly in this call and proposals are invited that explore and expand the definition and application of play in American Studies. The organizers are especially interested in interdisciplinary perspectives on play across the life span, including adulthood and old age; cultural meaning of play and entertainment in theme parks, film, literature, television, advertising, and political protest; uses of fantasy in new media and technology, including video gaming and the Internet; material and visual culture of play, including toys, furniture, dress and the body, costuming, sports, and board games, for adults as well as children; the topography of play, including parks, stadiums, playgrounds, and gyms; play in consumer culture, including intertextual connections between merchandise and film, music, advertising, and television; relationships between play and work, and the idea of leisure and recreational industries as they have historically emerged in the United States and its border regions, especially in Canada; verbal play, including humor, speech, jokelore, and legendry; intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and age in sports and recreation; the ethnography of play behavior, especially controversial traditions such as pranks, hazing, gestures, and “extreme” sports; comparative cultural analyses of games, sports, and entertainment in the United States and other countries.
Proposals for individual papers and presentations (15-30 minutes for each presentation, depending on the number of presenters in a session) should include one sheet with title, name and affiliation of author, and 150-300 word abstract. Another sheet should include a brief CV or biographical statement with full contact information of the presenter, including email. Proposals for panels, roundtables, and workshops should include a summary of the panel’s concept and a list of participants and special roles (chair, discussant, respondent). Send materials by email BEFORE DECEMBER 14, 2007 to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Proposals will be evaluated by a program committee composed of representatives from the sponsoring organizations of the Middle Atlantic American Studies Association and the Great Lakes American Studies Association, and notices will be sent to presenters in February 2008.
Publication of papers from the conference will be encouraged. Presenters will be invited to submit papers for a special issue subject to peer review in the American Journal of Play, edited by Dr. Jon-Paul Dyson. The American Journal of Play is intended to increase national awareness and understanding of the critical role of play in learning and human development and the way in which play illuminates the cultural history of the United States.
The setting of the Strong National Museum of Play is significant for this conference because it is the first and only major museum in the world devoted to the study and interpretation of play. The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York (already home to the National Toy Hall of Fame(r) and the world’s most comprehensive collection of toys, dolls, and other play-related artifacts) nearly doubled in size in 2006 to 282,000 square feet after a $37 million expansion. Attendees at the conference will have an opportunity to tour the collections of the museum in addition to having the benefit of free admission to the exhibitions. To encourage family participation, the Strong National Museum of Play will extend a 50 percent discount to family members accompanying attendees (an adult needs to accompany visitors under 17). Rochester is also an attractive destination for American Studies students and scholars because of famed material and visual cultural institutions, such as the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, Genesee Country Village and Museum, Susan B. Anthony House, Mount Hope Cemetery, and the Memorial Art Gallery at the University of Rochester. Significant nearby attractions include the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, Corning Museum of Glass, Hill Cumorah-Mormon Historical Site, Sonnenberg Gardens Mansion State Historic Park, and the Jell-O Gallery. The setting of the Strong National Museum of Play is also significant in its representation of the collaboration of public heritage professionals, academic institutions, and community scholars that has been a priority of the sponsoring organizations. The organizers especially want to encourage opportunities for exchanges among public and academic sectors and lively discussions among participants on the theme of play. It is a theme, the organizers want to emphasize, that merits interpretive work characteristic of American Studies as play affects significant aspects of American life and letters, including public policy, education, family and human development, environment, and media.
For more information, contact Simon J. Bronner at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
CFP: American Antiquarian Society Conference on Children’s Culture
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/chavic2008.htm
Rutgers Childhood Studies Graduate Program
Graduate Study in the field of Childhood Studies
at Rutgers University-Camden.USA
The Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey USA opened its doors in September 2007. The interdisciplinary program offers BA, MA and PhD degrees (http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu). Students come from a variety of backgrounds and bring an impressive array of educational and life experience to the program. Financial aid, teaching and research assistantships are available to qualified, full-time students.
The full-time faculty in the department are complemented by Associates in the Center for Children and Childhood Studies (http://children.camden.rutgers.edu/index.htm). These faculty have appointments in a wide range of departments and schools around the University, including, among others, Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology, Criminology, English, Public Policy, Religion and Philosophy, History and Law. Courses available to graduate students extend from the two-semester Proseminar in Childhood Studies to a variety of methods courses (statistical, interpretive, literary) across the campus to in-depth study of specific areas such as Children and Childhood in Cross-Cultural Perspectives, Child Growth and Development, Issues in Social Policy, Growing Up in Africa, History of Childhood, Children’s Literature and Children and the Justice System.
The Department and Center sponsor regular Research Seminars in addition to hosting conferences and visiting scholars. These activities add to the already vibrant intellectual culture on the campus.
Rutgers-Camden, a beautiful, urban campus expanding to accommodate the growth of Southern New Jersey, is located just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia offering access to the intellectual and cultural resources of the area.
The Department expects to continue to expand over the next several years through the recruitment of faculty and is currently undertaking a search for a senior scholar (http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/CS-ad.htm).
Applications are now being taken for graduate study in Childhood Studies. Interested persons should go to http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu. Direct any inquires to: Dr. Daniel Hart, Chair (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)); telephone in the US +1 856-225-6438 or Dr. Dan Cook, Director of Graduate Studies (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)), telephone in the US +1 856-225-2816.
Bush to Uninsured Children: Drop Dead
It’s well known that the CHIP program has become a proxy battle over health care more generally.
But as a former Texas resident who remembers how Gov Bush and his successor labored to prevent poor children from accessing CHIP in the 90s, it’s especially revolting to see his veto threat here.
Story below:
September 20, 2007
Bush Assails Democrats Over Child Health Bill
By DAVID STOUT
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20—President Bush accused Congressional Democrats today of playing politics with the health of children, and he warned again that he would veto a children’s insurance bill if it emerged from Congress in its present form.
Instead of posturing by sending him a bill they know he will reject, Mr. Bush said, the Democrats should embrace fiscal and social responsibility and pass a bill that provides for reasonable increases in spending on health insurance for uninsured children without veering toward the “federalization of health care.”
The president spoke at a White House news conference convened for the express purpose of trying to head off political damage from Democrats who are mocking Mr. Bush’s description of himself as a compassionate conservative because of his opposition to the increased spending in the children’s insurance bill.
While he responded to an array of questions on domestic and foreign issues, Mr. Bush led off with comments about the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as S-Chip.
“What I’m describing here is a philosophical divide that exists in Washington over the best approach for health care,” Mr. Bush said. “Democratic leaders in Congress want to put more power in the hands of government by expanding federal health care programs. Their S-Chip plan is an incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American.”
“I have a different view,” Mr. Bush went on. “I believe the best approach is to put more power in the hands of individuals by empowering people and their doctors to make health care decisions that are right for them. Instead of expanding S-Chip beyond its original purpose, we should return it to its original focus, and that is helping poor children, those who are most in need.”
Until the White House and Congress can come up with a health bill acceptable to both, Congress should pass “a clean, temporary extension” of the current program, which expires at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, Mr. Bush said. The president said he had instructed Michael Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, to work with state to minimize damage in the event that the program lapses.
Negotiators for the Senate and House have agreed on the outlines of a bill that would provide health insurance for an additional four million children who do not now have coverage. About 6.6 million children are now covered. Under the emerging bill, $60 billion would be provided for S-Chip program over the next five years—$35 billion more than current spending, and $30 billion more than Mr. Bush has recommended, but $15 billion less than the House originally wanted.
The House-Senate accord would increase tobacco taxes to cover more children. When Mr. Bush was asked if he would oppose a tobacco tax increase, he said, “We don’t need to raise taxes,” and added that lawmakers were trying to expand the health-insurance program beyond its original mandate to aid poor children.
While the White House prefers to cast the disagreement with Congress as a battle between financially responsible stewards of the taxpayers’ money against heavy-spending Democrats, the situation is much more complex. Many Republicans—senators as well as governors—also support an increase in S-Chip spending.
In a recent letter to Congress, Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association, said that without at least a re-authorization of the current program a dozen states would run out of federal money on Oct. 1, and two dozen more would run out in the ensuing months without a fresh infusion of money.
The Senate version of the S-Chip bill passed by 68 to 31 last month, enough to make the two-thirds necessary to override a presidential veto, thanks to considerable Republican support. But only five Republicans voted for the House version when it was approved by 225 to 204—well short of the 290 votes needed to override a veto if the full House membership of 435 votes.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, said she found Mr. Bush’s stand “unimaginable,” and that in effect Mr. Bush was “walking away from taking care of our children.”
The senator noted in an interview on CNN that the Republican-controlled Congress passed the children’s health program in 1997. As for Mr. Bush’s argument that the bill was meant to cover poor children, she said the greatest number of children who are losing insurance coverage are in middle-class families, and that they are losing out “because the employer-based system is eroding” and their parents cannot afford to buy insurance.
Meanwhile, Democrats are not unhappy over the White House’s political difficulties with children’s health insurance. Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, issued a statement asserting that Mr. Bush had a much more expansive view of S-Chip back in 2004, “when he was willing to say anything to get re-elected.”
In other words, Mr. Emanuel said, “President Bush was for expanding S-Chip before he was against it.”
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