Definitions of play
It is important for the purposes of this blog to appreciate the different forms that play can take. It is not simply the child constructing castles with her lego nor is it only when I sit down in front of my PS2 for a session of SSX on Tour before I go out to a nightclub with my mates. Though those are both forms of play they are not the only aspects of play.
Brian Sutton-Smith defines 7 types of play.
The Ancient rhetorics - play as Fate, Power, Communal Identity, and Frivolity
and the Modern rhetorics – play as Progress, the Imaginary, and the Self.
So this discussion of what play means for Christian spirituality may range from liturgy (Communal Identity) to office politics (progress and power) and from XBox (imaginary and frivolity) to celebrity (self, fate and power).
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1. Defining play « Spirituality of Play | October 9, 2006 at 2:58 pm
[...] Definitions of play Search [...]
2. Abba lover « Spirituality of Play | January 16, 2007 at 7:09 pm
[...] Filed under: Play — violettaxi @ 7:09 pm It’s often difficult to explain the seven types of play that inform modern society. People understand the concepts of frivolity and perhaps communal [...]
3.
Delameilleure Fred | December 5, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Dear,
I am writing a book on ‘Toy libraries and education support ol elders’. One chapter is about play and spirituality, symbolic consciousness, creativity and so forth. Another on child development and play.
Can anyone give me suggestions for good and clear texts on these issues?
Greetings,
Fred Delameilleure
Oostende
België
4.
liz | June 1, 2008 at 6:20 pm
hi Fred, try reading Turner on ritual and play, or Deep Play by Diane Ackerman, or Lars Tornstram on gerotrancendance.