Postdevelopmental Approaches to Digital Arts in Childhood

This book deconstructs traditional developmentalist logic around children’s engagement with digital media where the focus is on what the digital ’does to’ children’s bodies and brains. Rather than seeing children as vulnerable and passive recipients, the authors position children as co-creators and digital artists, embracing the richness of children’s digital play.

The chapters cover a wide range of topics including indigenous digital art, digital drawing, learning to code, social media and artificial intelligence. The authors use a diverse range of theoretical perspectives, including posthumanism, feminist new materialism, social semiotics, socialcultural and multimodal approaches to childhood to generate new ways of seeing the relationship between children and the digital. The book includes chapters from academics and practitioners based in Australia, Canada, Sweden, the UK and the USA and a companion website showcasing innovative and interactive material, including visual essays and soundscapes.

Marisssa McClure Sweeny is Professor of Art Education and Women’s and Gender Studies affiliate faculty at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Mona Sakr is Senior Lecturer in Education and Early Childhood at Middlesex University, UK.