OBJECT LESSONS
Object Lessons Ian Bogost, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA; Christopher Schaberg, Loyola University New Orleans, USA
Doll
Maria Teresa Hart, Independent Journalist, USA
Stroller
Amanda Parrish Morgan, Fairfield University, USA
Dolls commonly serve as a tool to teach mothering to young girls, but more often they are avatars of the idealized feminine self. (The word "doll" even acts as shorthand for a desirable woman.) They instruct girls what to strive for in society, reinforcing dominant patriarchal, heteronormative, white views around class, bodies, history, and celebrity, in insidious ways. By analyzing dolls from 17th century Japanese Hinamatsuri festivals, to the ‘80s American Girl Dolls, and even to today’s bitmoji, Doll reveals how the objects society encourages us to play with as girls shape the women we become.
Among the many things expectant parents are told to buy, none is a more visible symbol of status and parenting philosophy than a stroller. Although its association with wealth dates back to the invention of the first pram in the 1700s, in recent decades, four-figure strollers have become not just status symbols but cultural identifiers. From sleek jogging strollers for serious athletes and impossibly compact travel strollers for international travel to antistroller evangelists, all of these attitudes reveal how our differing beliefs of how parents and children ought to move through the world.
UK November 2022 • US November 2022 • 160 pages PB 9781501380860 • £9.99 / $14.95 ePub 9781501380877 • £10.18 / $13.45 ePdf 9781501380884 • £10.18 / $13.45 Series: Object Lessons • Bloomsbury Academic
UK November 2022 • US October 2022 • 160 pages PB 9781501386664 • £9.99 / $14.95 ePub 9781501386671 • £10.18 / $13.45 ePdf 9781501386688 • £10.18 / $13.45 Series: Object Lessons • Bloomsbury Academic
O B J E C T L E S S O N S Explore the hidden lives of ordinary things
9781501380860
9781501386749
9781501375804
9781501386664
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