Deliberately selected to represent as many parts of the globe as possible, and with a commitment to recognizing both the similarities and differences in children and young people′s lives - from China to Denmark, from Canada to India, from Japan to Iceland, from - the authors offer a rich contextualization of children′s engagement with their particular media and communication environment, while also pursuing cross-cutting themes in terms of comparative and global trends.

This essential volume brings together the work of internationally-renowned researchers, each experts in their field, in order to capture the diversity of children and young people′s media cultures around the world.

Why are the media such a crucial part of children′s daily lives? Are they becoming more important, more influential, and in what ways? Or does a historical perspective reveal how past media have long framed children′s cultural horizons or, perhaps, how families - however constituted - have long shaped the ways children relate to media?

In addressing such questions, the contributors present detailed empirical cases to uncover how children weave together diverse forms and technologies to create a rich symbolic tapestry which, in turn, shapes their social relationships. At the same time, many concerns - even public panics - arise regarding children′s engagement with media, leading the contributors also to inquire into the risky or problematic aspects of today′s highly mediated world.

Deliberately selected to represent as many parts of the globe as possible, and with a commitment to recognizing both the similarities and differences in children and young people′s lives - from China to Denmark, from Canada to India, from Japan to Iceland, from - the authors offer a rich contextualization of children′s engagement with their particular media and communication environment, while also pursuing cross-cutting themes in terms of comparative and global trends.

Each chapter provides a clear orientation for new readers to the main debates and core issues addressed, combined with a depth of analysis and argumentation to stimulate the thinking of advanced students and established scholars. Since children and young people are a focus of study across different disciplines, the volume is thoroughly multi-disciplinary. Yet since children and young people are all too easily neglected by these same disciplines, this volume hopes to accord their interests and concerns they surely merit.

CONTINUITIES AND CHANGE
Culture-Nature and the Construction of Childhood - Alan Prout
The Child in the Picture - Patricia Holland
Managing Monsters - Dan Fleming
Videogames and the `Mediatization′ of the Toy
Harlequin Meets the SIMS - Jacqueline Reid-Walsh
A History of Interactive Narrative Media for Children and Youth From Early Flap Books to Contemporary Multi Media
PROBLEMATICS
Making Waves - Chas Critcher
Panic Discourses about the Media and Children or Young People, Past and Present
Children and Media in the Context of the Home and Family - Stewart Hoover and Lynn Schofield Clark
Reality and Fantasy in Media - Máire Messenger Davies
Can Children Tell the Difference and How Do We Know?
Mobile Emancipation - Rich Ling and Leslie Haddon
Children, Youth and the Mobile Phone
The Mediated Playground - Dafna Lemish
Media in Early Childhood
Dividing Delights - Jane Kenway and Elizabeth Bullen
Children, Adults and the Search for Sales
Horror Films and Youthful Film Cultures - Anne Jerslev
Learning Theory, Videogames, and Popular Culture - James Gee
CULTURES AND CONTEXTS
Children and Media - David Buckingham
A Cultural Studies Approach
The African Reception of Global Media - Larry Strelitz and Priscilla Boshoff
Relations Between Globalization and Localization - Jette Rygaard
Young People′s Media Culture in Greenland
Games and Media - Maria Heller
The Acquisition of Social Structure and Social Rules
Uses of Media - Stephanie Donald
Participant Researchers in Asian Contexts
Media and Girls′ Issues in China - Bu Wei
Media as Strategy for Gender Equality
Contextualizing Media Competencies Amongst Young People in Indian Culture - Usha Nayar and Amita Bhide
Interface with Globalization
Youth, Media and Culture in the Arab World - Marwan Kraidy and Joe Khalil
Situated Media Appropriations in Brazil - Norbert Wildermuth
Imagination, Empowerment and Exclusion
Has Television Become a Connecting Culture? - Letizia Caronia and André H. Caron
A Cross-Cultural Study
PERSPECTIVES
Trans-National Media Mixing - Mizuko Ito
Cultural Production and Exchange in International Anime Cultures
Japanese Young People, Media and Everyday Life - Toshie Takahashi
Towards the De-Westernising of Media Studies
New Visions of Literacy - Renee Hobbs
The Great Debates Continue
From Parental Control to Peer Pressure - Dominique Pasquier
Cultural Transmission and Conformism
The Commodification of Kids′ Culture - Janet Wasko
Media and Communications Regulation and Child Protection - David Oswell
An Overview of the Field
Facilitating Political Participation - Peter Dahlgren
Young Citizens, Internet and Civic Cultures
Children′s Communication Rights - Cees Hamelink
Beyond Intentions