9th ITRA World Conference, Rochester, USA, 9, 10,11 August 2023
______________________________________________________


The Conference Program can be found here and the Book of Abstracts is here.

Conference Theme

The overarching theme for the 9th ITRA World Conference is "Toys Matter: The Power of Playthings.". The conference also marks the 30th anniversary of ITRA's founding.

From ITRA’s beginning, the idea that toys mattered was a fundemental principle that put the toys themselves on centre stage. During the first world conference, ITRA co-founder Brian Sutton-Smith highlighted the importance of toy research, quipping that, “we’re not just toying around here.” Rather, he argued that toys and toy research mattered because it was only by carefully examining the contexts in which we find toys, the worlds of discourse created from them, and their power to shape our private and collective imaginations that we could comprehend the power of the toys with which we play.

As the tools of serious fun, toys have the power to inspire, to promote learning and skill development, to forge and maintain connections with others, and to open new worlds of possibilities. At the same time, it is not always fun and games in Toyland. Toys are also used to grieve, to console, and to cope. They can afford comfort during lockdowns or in the aftermath of natural and human-made disasters. In the face of social unrest or geopolitical turmoil, they can be transformed into instruments of protest and resistance. The power of playthings is multi-layered and multi-faceted. Toys empower and heal. However, they can also oppress and harm. From safety concerns, to environmental and psychological impacts, to who is represented and how, the quality and characteristics of toys matter.

The 9th ITRA World Conference provides opportunities to not only reflect on the last 30 years of toy research but to also look forward in order to broaden the scope of what counts as a toy, and to expand our understanding of the power of playthings and the many ways they matter - for both children and adults. This conference is a timely opportunity for toy researchers, designers, advocates, archivists and other toy professionals to discuss the role toys play in our individual and collective identities, and the various ways they reflect and shape our worlds (both positively or negatively), as well as the impact of technology, environmental concerns and societal/cultural crises on toy design, manufacture and use. We invite work that examines the power of playthings both historically and in our ever-changing worlds, especially as we navigate these precarious and even perilous times.

All play objects, whether physical, digital or hybrid, are included in the scope of toys to be discussed at this conference. This includes games as well as indoor and outdoor play spaces.

The scientific committee encourages submissions of abstracts that relate to the main conference theme from all disciplines, as well as other toy related topics including but not limited to:


Publications

Conference proceedings will be published in the open archive HAL. HAL is an online scientific research document repository.

Participants who wish to have their full paper published are required to submit it to the Conference Chair, Greta Pennell by April 30th, 2024.

A special issue of the American Journal of Play (v. 16 n. 2&3) based on selected papers from the 9th World Conference is forthcoming.

 

toy
ITRA Title