5TH  ITRA WORLD CONGRESS

 TOYS AND CULTURE

                                                      ITRA_PFF

 

Nafplion 9-10-11 July 2008

 

Department of Theatre Studies, Vas. Georgiou II and Irakleous St., Nafplion 211 00/ Old Parliament, Staikopoulou St. , Nafplion 211 00 

 

 

The International Toy Research Association (ITRA), founded in 1993, is devoted to the scientific study of toys in all their facets. ITRA brings together toy researchers from all corners of the globe (see www.toyresearch.org for further information on ITRA). This is our 5th International Congress to discuss research, collaborate on international projects, and exchange information with other researchers, students, and leaders in the toy industry. More than 100 delegates from 17 countries attended our previous meeting in Alicante, Spain. The Nafplion meeting will exceed that number.

 

The Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation “V. Papantoniou” was founded by Ioanna Papantoniou in 1974. It is a privately supported foundation based in Nafplion and it aims at research, preservation, study and presentation of the material culture of Greece, especially of the region of the Peloponnese. The Folklore Museum of the Foundation received the European Museum of the Year Award in 1981. The PFF publishes records of Greek folk music, books on Greek folk culture and the scientific journal  Ethnographica. In 1989 the PFF created “Stathmos”, a multipurpose children’s centre housing part of its toy and children’s culture collections (see www.pli.gr for further information).

 

The Department for Theatre Studies was founded in 2003 in Nafplion Greece as part of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of the Peloponnese (see www.uop.gr). It aims to cultivate and promote the performing arts (dance, theatre and film studies) through academic and applied research and to provide its 252 students with the knowledge needed for their scientific, artistic and professional development. To this end, the Department organizes lectures, exhibitions and many events dealing with dance, theatre and film. Moreover it participates in the ERASMUS programme for Education in Europe.

 

 

Conference Theme

The overarching theme of the conference is the relationship between toys and culture. All play media and play instruments are included in the concept of “toys” ranging from playgrounds and playscapes to electronic devices. A broad scope of approaches has been  encouraged from the technological and social sciences and the humanities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Programme

 

Wednesday 9 July

 

          Old Parliament Building                                 

 

08:30-09:00          Registration

 

09:00-09:30          Opening of Congress: Welcome speeches

                                                       

                              Vassilis Sotiropoulos, Prefect of Argolis

                              Panagiotis Anagnostaras, Mayor of Napflion

                              Stavros Perentidis, Head of the Department of  Theatre Studies,

                                    University of the Peloponnese

                                    Ioanna Papantoniou, President and director of the Peloponnesian Folklore

                                    Foundation

                              Ioannis Bollas, President of the Cultural Organization O.P.A.N.A.A.R

                                    Andrianos Anyfantis, President of the Old People’s Home “Pronoia Maria K.

                                    Radou”

                                   Cleo Gougoulis, ITRA president

 

 

09:30-10:30          Gilles Brougère, Université Paris Nord, France

                              Keynote address 1

                              Toys, games and play in the circle dance of children's mass culture.

                                

                                 

10:30-11:00          Nora Skouteri-Didaskalou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece)

                             Keynote address 2

                             On toys and culture: One can never tell what is going to be sung

                             

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                    Ground Floor

 

11:00-11:30          Coffee Break sponsored by the Association of Friends of the Peloponnesian

                                                              Folklore Foundation

                                                  

                              Poster Session: Edda Bontempo, Lairtes J.M.Temple Vidal

                              University of Sâo Paolo, Brazil (paper presented by Maria do Carmo  

                              Monteiro Kobayashi, University Etadual Paulistas)

                              Development of imagination in a business management classroom.

                              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PARALLEL SESSIONS

 

Department of Theatre Studies

 

► Toys, Media and Technology                                                       Room A, First Floor

 

 

11:30-12:00          Evangelia Kourti, University of Athens, Greece

                             Children’s televised toy advertisements in Greece and the

                             globalization of children’s culture.                                                                                              

                             

                                                                

12:00-12:30          Marilu Polymeropoulou, Postgraduate student,University of Athens, Greece

                                   Toy-music.

 

 

12:30-13:00          Artemis Yagou, AKTO Art and Design College, Athens, Greece

                              Playing with technology: The case of toy-like radio sets.

 

 

13:00-13:30          Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

                              Toying with me, here, now: Play in everyday life of trans-youths

                              in Seoul.

 

 

 

► Toys in Educational and Museum Practice                          Room B, Ground Floor

 

 

11:30-12:00          Stevanne Auerbach, San Francisco, USA (paper presented by Helena

                             Kling, The Educational Centre for Games, Israel)

                             The impact of construction play.

 

                      

12:00-12:30          Dimitra Deroyannis and Mariza Tsachali, Hellenic Children’s  Museum,  

                                    Greece

                              Playing to learn and learning to play. The educational role of play in

                              Children’s Museums.

                             

12:30-13:00          Maria Roussou and Elia Vlachou

                             Piraeus Group Cultural Foundation, Greece and Museums Network Department,

                                   Greece

                             The challenge of creating digital game-based learning environments

                             for museums

.

                               

13:30-15:00          Lunch                                                 Hotels Rex and Nafplia

 

 

 

 

 

15:00-16:30                   PLENARY SESSION                       Old Parliament Building

    

                       

 SYMPOSIUM:  Approaching the Culture of Toys. Session in memory of Birgitta Almqvist, Founding Member and first Secretary of ITRA.

                              Gisela Wegener Spöhring, (chair and co-ordinator) University of  

                                     Cologne, Germany

                                     Gilles Brougère, Université Paris-Nord, France

                                     Eva Petersson, Aalborg University Esbjerg, Denmark

                              Cleo Gougoulis, Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation, Greece

                                        David Hawtin, British Toy and Hobby Association, UK

                              Jeffrey Goldstein, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands

                              

 

16:30-17:00          Coffee Break                                    Department of Theatre Studies

 

 

                                               

                                                 PARALLEL SESSIONS

 

Department of Theatre Studies

 

► Technology                                                                                  Room A, First Floor

 

 

17:00-17:30          Lydia Plowman, Joanna McPake and Christine Stephen University of     

                                     Stirling, UK                                   

                             A toxic childhood? Family views on young children’s play with

                             technology.

                               

 

17:30-18:00          Wendy Dupuy Jacocks, Doctoral student, University of Memphis, USA

                              Toys: Technological Opportunities Yield Success.

 

 

18:00-18:30          Doris Bergen, Kathleen Hutchinson and Deborah Weber

                              Miami University, USA and Fisher Price, Inc, USA

                             Effect of infant-parent play with a technology- enhanced toy:

                             Αffordance-related actions and communicative interactions.

 

18:30-19:00         Geoffrey Long MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, USA

                            Toys, twenty-somethings and technology: Action figures as philosophy

                             tokens, story tokens and trans-media extensions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

► Observing Toy Play                                                                 Room B, Ground Floor

 

 

17:00-17:30          Kafenia Botsoglou and Domna Kakana, University of  Thessaly, Greece

                             Play without rules? When toys make children “impose” their own

                             rules.

                              

 

17:30-18:00          Konstantinos Karadimitriou, Maria Sakellariou and Spyros              

                             Pantazis, University of  Ioannina, Greece

                              Social and cognitive aspects of 5- and 7- year- old children’s play 

                              with toys and play material.

 

 

18:00-18:30          Minna Ruckenstein and Tamara Rapoport,

                               TheUniversity of Helsinki, Finland and Hebrew University, Israel

                             Techno-intimacies and educational anxieties: Negotiating toys in a

                       Finnish kindergarten.

                        

 

Evening Events

 

20:00                   Guided Tour of the Folk Art Museum, Peloponnesian Folklore                  

                            Foundation (PFF).

 

21:00                   Reception, sponsored by the Friends of the PFF- Traditional winter and 

                            Spring carols by Lida Xida and Stamatis Diamantopoulos, sponsored by

                            the Department of Childhood, Toys and Games, Benaki Museum.

 

 

 

Thursday 10 July

 

PARALLEL SESSIONS

 

Department of Theatre Studies

 

                                                                                                     Room A, First Floor

 

SYMPOSIUM I led by Mathieu Gielen, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

     Toy Design Education Programs, Part 1                                  

 

09:00-09:30          Lieselotte Van Leeuwen, University of Sunderland, UK

                             Social science in the idea development stage of design for play.

                             

 

09:30-10:00          Yiu-Cheung (Greg) Shiu, Honk Kong Design Institute, China

                              Toy design education in Hong Kong.

 

 

10:00-10:30          Mathieu Gielen, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

                             Aimlessness, empathy, play value: Essential concepts in toy design

                              education.

                                                                      

 

10:30-11:00          Phil Tan, Clara Fernandez-Vara and Matthew Weise

                              Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab,USA

                              Introducing videogame studies in traditional academic settings.

 

                             Eva Petersson, Aalborg University Esbjerg, Denmark

                             Medialogy education.

 

                           

Room B, Ground Floor

 

SYMPOSIUM II led by Suzanne Seriff, The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, USA

     Batteries Not Included: Handmade Toys in Machine-Made Times.      Part 1                                          

 

09:00-09:30          Suzanne Seriff, The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, USA

                             Recycling for fun and profit.

 

09:30-10:00          Maria Argyriadis, Department of Childhood, Toys and Games,

                                   Benaki Museum, Greece

                                   Customary toys and games in Greek traditional society.

 

 

10:00-10:30          Uwemedimo Enoboung Iwoketok, University of  Jos, Nigeria

                                    Folk toys in a machine made age: A return to the stone age?

                              

 

10:30-11:00          Sudarshan Khanna, National Institute of Design, India

                             Relevance of indigenous toy culture today.

 

 

11:00-11:30          Coffee Break                                                            

                                                                                                Room B, Ground Floor

 

                    Poster session: Abhay Kothari, Manthan Educational Programme Society,

                    India

                    Low cost toys for informal science learning.

                             

                               Traditional carols by Lyda Xida and Stamatis Diamantopoulos,

                               sponsored by the Department of Childhood, Toys and Games,

                               Benaki Museum.                                  

 

                 

 

 

 

 

 

PARALLEL SESSIONS

 

Department of Theatre Studies

 

Room A, First Floor

 

SYMPOSIUM I led by Mathieu Gielen Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands  

     Toy Design Education Programs, Part 2

 

 

11:30-12:00          Vaso Trova, Iris Likourioti and Giorgos Papakonstantinou,

                              University of Thessaly, Greece

                              Inventing constraints: Game design and the making of architectural

                              objects.

 

 

12:00-12:30          Barry Kudrowitz, Mechanical Engineering, MIT, USA

                             The play pyramid: A play classification tool and brainstorming toy.

 

 

12:30-13:00          Rémi Leclerc, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China

                                    Hong Kong hackshops: creative instant toy design workshops.

 

 

13:00-13:30          Diane Westwood, University of Sunderland, UK

                             Transitional space objects and phenomena: Implications for 

                             design.

                              

 

 

Room B, Ground Floor

 

SYMPOSIUM II led by Suzanne Seriff The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, USA

      Batteries Not Included: Handmade Toys in Machine-Made Times,  Part 2

 

 

11:30-12:00          Kathan Kothari, National Institute of Design, India  (paper presented by          

                             Abhay Kothari, Manthan Educational Programme Society, India)

                             Learning science while playing: The Indian experience.

                             

12:00-12:30          Jean – Pierre Rossie, University of Ghent, Belgium

                             Globalization and tradition in Moroccan Anti-Atlas children’s toy

                             and play culture.

 

Applied Design I                            

 

12:30-13:00          Malena  Fabregat, Aiju, Toy Research Institute, Spain

                             Eldergames: Development of high therapeutic value IST-  based

                       games for monitoring and improving the quality of life of elderly

                             people.

 

 

      13:00-13:30          Katriina Heljakka, University of Art and Design, Pori, Finland

                              The art of making a game. Analyzing and managing the creative

                              process behind board game development.

                                    

 

13:30-15:00          Lunch                                             Hotels Rex and Nafplia

 

 

                                PLENARY SESSION                         Old Parliament Building

15:00-15:30       

                           

                             ITRA-BTHA 2007-2008 award, presented by Jeffrey Goldstein 

                             on behalf of the International Toy Research Association and Roland

                             Earl on behalf of the British Toy and Hobby Association                             

                              

 

15:30-16:00         Jan Phillips, University of Southern Maine, USA

                             Accomplishing family through toy consumption.

 

                          

16:00-16:30         Hyun-Jung Oh, Doctoral student, University College London, UK

                            The phenomenon of dolls’ houses: Putting together memories and      

                             fantasies.               

 

16:30-17:00          Coffee Break                                Department of Theatre Studies

 

                                                                                     Room B, Ground Floor

                              Poster Session: Antal Kelle, Hungary

                              Meditation toys: Between toy and art

                             

 

 

PARALLEL SESSIONS

 

Department of Theatre Studies

 

Toy Marketing                                                                              Room A, First Floor

 

 

17:00-17:30          Maria das Graças de Souza Teixeira, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

                             The trans-Atlantic dream market.

 

 

17:30-18:00          Evangelia Kourti and Vasso Barboussi, University of Athens and     

                                    University of the Peloponnese, Greece

                             Dancing toys: The quest for mechanical life.  

                              

 

18:00-18:30         Luisa Magalhães, Portuguese Catholic University, Portugal

                              Portuguese toy adverts on television: Features and strategies for

                              enchanting children.

 

 

18:30-19:00          Amanda Gummer, FUNdamentals,  UK

                             An investigation into the emotional values consumers look for

                            when making entertainment choices.                           

 

 

► Changing Toy Cultures                                                           Room B, Ground Floor

 

 

17:00-17:30          Handan Asûde Basal, Pinar Bagceli, and Meral Taner

                              Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey

                              The toys and games which are played in Turkey from great-

                              grandmothers/ grandfathers to grandchildren in four generations.

 

 

17:30-18:00          Handan Asûde Basal, Uludag University, Bursa Turkey

                             Children’s games with and without toys played in Turkey during the

                              past years.

                              

 

18:00-18:30          Elena Smirnova and Irina Filippova, Center of Play and Toys,

                                    Moscow, Russia                                                       

                              Psychological examination of toys in Moscow.

 

 

 

Evening Events

 

 

20:00-22:30       Cruise in the Argolic Bay. Light dinner, sponsored by the Cultural

                          Organization O.P.A.N.A.A.R.

 

 

 

Friday 11 July

 

                            PLENARY SESSION                                   Old Parliament Building

 

09:00-10:00        Invited speaker: Wijnand Ijsselstein, Eindhoven University of

                                 Technology, The Netherlands

                            Presentation of The Game Experience Lab.                            

 

 

 

 

 

PARALLEL SESSIONS

 

Department of Theatre Studies

 

Gender Issues, Part 1                                                                   Room A, First Floor

 

10:00-10:30          Angeliki Tsapakidou, John Papadelis and Nektaria Palaiologou,

                              University of Western Macedonia, Greece  

                                    Chrysie Papadeli, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece  

                                   Gender choices towards play and toys: Research in primary

                              school children.

 

 

10:30-11:00          Alexandra Frederikou, Fanny Folerou, Independent Researchers, Greece

                             Observing elementary school girls play: The skipping rope.

 

 

 

► History, Part 1                                                                         Room B, Ground Floor

 

10:00-10:30        Maria Velioti-Georgopoulos, University of the Peloponnese, Greece         

             Playing with puppets: Greek discourses on children’s toy puppet

                           theatre 1870-1950.    

                                                              

 

10:30-11:00        Despina Karakatsani, University of the Peloponnese, Greece                                                                                                               

                           Educational toys and materials in Greek primary school after the 

                           Second World War (1950-1990).

                              

                                 

11:00-11:30          Coffee Break                                                          

                                                                                                  Room B, Ground Floor

 

                              Poster Session: Helena Kling, The Educational Centre for Games, Israel

                              New toys for old.

                                   

 

 

PARALLEL SESSIONS

 

Department of Theatre Studies

 

► Gender Issues, Part 2                                                                   Room A, First Floor

 

11:30-12:00          Tizuko Morchida Kishimoto, Andréia Tiemi Ono

                              University of  Sâo Paulo, Brazil

                                    Children’s play and gender in the play room;

         

 

12:00-12:30          Kathy Merlock – Jackson, Virginia Wesleyan College, USA      

                             Doll wars: Barbie and her competitors in the twenty first century.

                              

 

12:30-13:00          Greta Elleen Penell, University of Indianápolis, USA    

                              Why boys still don´t play with Barbie: Gender socialization in  

                              toyland.

 

 

13:00-13:30           Miriam Forman-Brunell, University of Missouri-Kansas City,USA

                              The princess of multivalence: Adults’ anxiety and girls’ identity.

          

     

                    

 

History, Part 2                                                                         Room B, Ground Floor

 

11:30-12:00          Valérie-Inés  de La Ville and  Michel Manson, Poitiers University,

                                    France and Université Paris 13, France

                                    French toy and games manufacturers and their responsibility towards

                              children, 1891-1945.

 

 

12:00-12:30          Giorgos Papaconstantinou, University of Thessaly, Greece   

                                    Early animation toys: From science to spectacle.

                         

 

12:30-13:00          Yehudit  Inbar, Museums Division, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

                              Children’s play and creativity during the holocaust.

                             

 

                              

13:00-13:30          Maria Papathanassiou, University of Athens, Greece

                             Children´s toys and industrial toys: Children of the poor and aspects

                             of their material culture in Central Europe before the Second World  

                             War.

                              

13:30-15:00          Lunch                                             Hotels Rex and Nafplia

 

 

PARALLEL SESSIONS

 

Department of Theatre Studies

 

► Applied Design II                                                                          Room A, First Floor

 

15:00-15:30         Gayatri Menon, National Institute of Design, India

                              Alternate game play: Design challenges and opportunities

                            

 

15:30-16:00          Siegfried Zoels, Fördern durch Spielmittel, Germany

                             Developing innovative toys - creativity, design and social action.

                             people with special needs as partner and authors.

                              

 

16:00-16:30          Dimitris Gouscos and Maria Saridaki, University of Athens

            EPINOISI R&D project on specialized formation of general

                              and special education teachers and production of digital game-

                              based educational material for mild mental retardation.

 

                       

 

 

► Toys, Ethnicity and Nationalism                                            Room B, Ground Floor

 

15:00-15:30          Panagiota Politi, Hellenic Folklore Research Centre, Greece

                             Children’s toys and media in a bilingual community: A historical and

                             cultural analysis.

                             

 

15:30-16:00          Maria do Carmo Monteiro Kobayashi, University Etadual Paulistas,

                                    Brazil

                                     Asobi Mashou: Ludic culture of Japanese descendants.

 

 

16:00-16:30          Daniella Pelegrinelli, University of Saint Martín, Argentina

                                    Toy industry, childhood imageries and policies in Argentina during

                              the Peronist government (1946-1955). 

 

16:30-17:00          Coffee Break

 

                       

                              

 

 

                              PLENARY SESSION                         Old Parliament Building

                             

 

17:00-17:30          Closing Ceremony. Conclusions and Farewell

                              Piano: Theolena Piki, Municipal Music School of Nafplion  

                              “K.Nonis”.

                               

17:30-18:30           ITRA General Meeting

18:30-19:00           ITRA Board meeting

 

 

Evening Events

 

 

19:30-20:30         Choice of three guided tours (see section cultural events):

                            · Fairs, Peddlers and Merry- go-rounds. Old Parliament building

                            · Toy Exhibition at the “Stathmos” Museum of Childhood,

                              Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation

                            · Historical Centre of Nafplion  

 

21:00                  Farewell Reception at the Folk Art Museum of the Peloponnesian

                           Folklore Foundation (PFF), sponsored by the PFF.

                           Traditional songs and dances performed by the Dance Group of the

                           Association of Friends of the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation.

                         

 

 

 

Saturday 12 July

 

09:00-15:00          Optional excursion to the Tiryns Fortress and the

                             Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus.

 

 

Cultural Events

The conference participants are invited to visit the following exhibitions operating during the days of the conference. There will be guided tours to these exhibitions and to the Historical Centre of Nafplion on Friday 11 July 19:00-20:00. Please sign up at the conference reception desk to be included in the tour of your choice.

 

 

 1. Exhibitions:

a) Fairs, Peddlers and Merry- go-rounds. Old Parliament building, ground floor.

The Childhood, Toys and Games Department of the Benaki Museum, will reconstruct a Greek early 20th century fair, complete with toy stalls and merry-ground.

 

Curator: Ioanna Chatzopoulou, Benaki Museum 

With the contribution of:  Maria Argyriadis, Despina Karakomninou, Tzeni Maliariti Chara Ioakeimoglou, Childhood, Toys and Games Department, Benaki Museum, and the assistance of: Popi Kalkounou, Head of Educational Programmes Department, Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation. 

 

b) Moroccan Children’s toys seen through the eyes of Nafpliote Children. Museum of Childhood “Stathmos”, Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation, National Railway Station Park.  

An exhibition portraying representations of Moroccan children’s toys created by the Nafpliote children participating in the Educational programme on play among the Anti-Atlas Mountain children in Southern Morocco

 

Curator and programme animator: Jean- Pierre Rossie, University of Ghent, Belgium

Contributors: Popi Kalkounou, Head of Educational Programmes Department, Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation and the children participating in the educational programme.

 

 

2. Tour “The Historical Centre of Nafplion”. 

 A tour of the historical buildings and monuments of Nafplion organized by Natassa Vassileiou archaeologist, National Archaeological Service and Maria Velioti-Georgopoulos, social anthropologist, Department of Theatre Studies, University of the Peloponnese.

 

 

 

We are grateful to the following institutions and individuals who have supported the preparation of this conference:

 

Co-organizers: Department of Theatre Studies, University of the Peloponnese, DEPAN  (Cultural Department of the Municipality of Nafplion), Cultural Organization O.P.A.N.A.A.R.

 

Collaborating Institutions: Center for Hellenic Studies- Harvard University, Department of Childhood, Toys and Games, Benaki Museum, Municipal Music School of Nafplion “K. Nonis”, Τhe Association of Friends of the Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation.

The Old Peoples HomePronoia Maria K. Radou”.

 

Sponsors: British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA), Hellenic Literary and Historical Archive (E.L.I.A), Iaso General Hospital, OPTIKA Manto Kapetanopoulou.

 

Volunteers: George Theodorou (Design of conference logo, poster and programme cover).

George Georgopoulos (Adaptation of map of Nafplion).

D. Hasapis and the Cleaning Company “Lampsi” (cleaning of the Department of Theatre 

Studies).

Natassa Vassileiou (tour guide “Historical Centre of Nafplion”).