*CFP* "ANIMATION AND EDUCATION", SPECIAL ISSUE, ANIMATION: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL

The study of animation has grown enormously in the past two decades. Historical and theoretical research, along with teaching the practice of animation in a variety of settings – from schools and colleges, to universities and other contexts – is now commonplace. One area that has been overlooked to date, however, is explicit/critical discussion/of/how and why/we teach animation in the ways that we do. There are a number of ‘traditions’ at play here: the teaching/training/inducting of people into the/craft/of making animation; courses that educate people whose goal is to work in more mainstream studio animation; courses that examine animation as an artistic practice overlapping with other areas such as Fine Art or Experimental Film/Video. There often appears to be a bifurcation into ‘animation education’ on the one hand and ‘animation training’ on the other: part of the point of this Special Issue would be to challenge and interrogate such a simplistic binary way of thinking. 

The recent turn to ‘production studies’ (e.g. the work of John Caldwell) and critical examination of media industries (e.g. the work published in/Media Industries/online journal) ties in with a more detailed exploration of animation production pipelines, and how these ‘normative models’ are taught and passed down to future practitioners is part of the next stage of important research that needs to be done. Likewise, the role of animation in learning more generally – animation as a potentially radical pedagogic tool – also needs further critical examination.

The Special Issue welcomes submissions on any aspect of animation and education, including but not limited to:

• Animation in the university, school and other formal educational settings;
• Animation’s ‘interdisciplinary’ status;
• Animation Studies/animation practice as a recognizable ‘knowledge area’;
• Animation education’s relationship with industry (mentoring, industry liaison);
• Formal and informal modes of animation education;
• Communities of practice, on-the-job training, continuing professional development;
• Fostering diversity via animation education (e.g. issues of race, class, gender, dis/ability);
• The relationship between animation practice, animation theory, and animation professional discourses;
• The ways in which animation can be used to educate about other things – e.g. History, issues in healthcare, social care, etc;
• Case studies of specific examples of animation pedagogy;

Animation and the philosophy of education. As well as welcoming articles of 6-9000 words, we also welcome shorter ‘critical reflections on animation education’ (2-3000 words), where educators can share examples of best practice.

Deadline: Submissions to reach the Guest Editor (pward@aub.ac.uk) by 31 March 2021.

All submissions will be subject to the journal’s peer review processes. Please refer to the journal's Submission Guidelines.