Periodic Report Summary 1 - CHILDREN-MEDIA (Transnational Histories of Children’s Media in a ‘Glocalised’ World)
This project is centered on the global/local dynamics that come into play when children's media are produced for a global market and then transferred to a local setting. I mainly investigate these processes from a historical point of view. One particular focus is the challenges that global market products are seen to bring about, because children’s media products often are viewed as playing an important role in their enculturation into a specific cultural (national) environment. The primary way in which I approach this area of research is through an investigation of how the American produced, globally marketed, children’s television programme Sesame Street, was simultaneously appropriated and rejected by national broadcasting companies in different European countries during the 1970s. Taking a historical perspective on global-local dynamics of children’s media allows me to map out the consequences of (in some cases) a significant distance between the cultural ideals (of childhood, kinship, social relations, etc.) encoded in a product intended for a global market and the ideals held by recipients in different national settings.
In relation to the project, the objectives and results for this period has been the following:
(1) Collect sources for the project in Denmark, Italy and Germany. Germany was switched for the US, as this progress in the source collection process was more beneficial for the work with the analytical framework. The work carried out in this relation has taken up a major part of the period. All of August was spend in the Children’s Television Workshop’s (the creators of Sesames Street) archives in Washington. In Denmark I have been going to the archives on a regular basis through out the year. The Italian sources I have worked on through out the period, but what I had collected turned out to be sufficient, so another trip was not necessary.
(2) To construct an analytical framework and interpret successful transfers: this has been done. I have worked repeatedly on this throughout the year, particularly the workshop in December 2015 (see below) was a good deadline for this.
(3) Write 2 papers/articles on the lack of transnational perspective in children’s media history and Sesame Streets transfer. This has been done. The papers are not yet in a shape that allows for submission to a journal, but this will absolutely be achieved this year.
(4) Participate in a conference on Child and Teen Consumption. This happened in April 2014. I presented a well-received paper at the conference in Edinburgh.
(5) Host an international workshop on the localisation of children’s media. This happened in December 2014. The workshop had 14 participants from Europe and the US. It lasted 2 days and was absolutely beneficial for my work.
(6) Start-up of research group. This has happened in my department as an interdisciplinary effort with the participation of several researchers from Education and Media Studies.
In relation to the project, the objectives and results for this period has been the following:
(1) Collect sources for the project in Denmark, Italy and Germany. Germany was switched for the US, as this progress in the source collection process was more beneficial for the work with the analytical framework. The work carried out in this relation has taken up a major part of the period. All of August was spend in the Children’s Television Workshop’s (the creators of Sesames Street) archives in Washington. In Denmark I have been going to the archives on a regular basis through out the year. The Italian sources I have worked on through out the period, but what I had collected turned out to be sufficient, so another trip was not necessary.
(2) To construct an analytical framework and interpret successful transfers: this has been done. I have worked repeatedly on this throughout the year, particularly the workshop in December 2015 (see below) was a good deadline for this.
(3) Write 2 papers/articles on the lack of transnational perspective in children’s media history and Sesame Streets transfer. This has been done. The papers are not yet in a shape that allows for submission to a journal, but this will absolutely be achieved this year.
(4) Participate in a conference on Child and Teen Consumption. This happened in April 2014. I presented a well-received paper at the conference in Edinburgh.
(5) Host an international workshop on the localisation of children’s media. This happened in December 2014. The workshop had 14 participants from Europe and the US. It lasted 2 days and was absolutely beneficial for my work.
(6) Start-up of research group. This has happened in my department as an interdisciplinary effort with the participation of several researchers from Education and Media Studies.