MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

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Play Studies

Area chairs

Erin Heisel (Adelphi University)
A Nicole Pfannenstiel (Millersville University)

Play Studies is a forum for discussing play through theoretical, practical, performative, interdisciplinary, and historical lenses.

Call for papers: 

Papers that discuss a particular scholar’s definition of play (Huizinga, Sutton-Smith, etc.) or a particular scholar’s application of play (Henricks to sociology, Csikszentmihalyi to psychology, etc) are welcome. Papers that explore interdisciplinary applications of play, for example, play and music, play and child development, play-based learning practices (for all age groups and in all fields), etc., are also welcome. Relationships between play and space, sports, work, time, the self, language, and community, or papers that explore other philosophical and/or practical applications of play are also possible. Papers or presentations linking the study of play to popular and/or American culture artifacts (movies, literature, images, events, toys, musics, etc), whether discussing the play of creative processes in creating such artifacts or the ways experiencing culture or engaging with artifacts can evoke play experiences, are welcome. Work exploring role-playing games (RPGs) in social, educational, or other settings also welcome, as are presentations that include RPG experiences for conference participants. Papers exploring the theoretical aspects of Game Studies are welcome; papers considering other elements of video games should consider our Comics, Cartoons, and Video Games area. Work exploring the therapeutic effects of experiencing play through culture also welcome, as are papers exploring dark play, violence, war, and/or applying play in challenging or difficult aspects of culture. Finally, nontraditional presentations that create play experiences for conference attendees are encouraged.

Abstracts must be less than 300 words.

Submission via: https://mapaca.net/conference

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