Play

Play is often treated as inaction, a pause in the day when nothing happens. It is pinned as the opposite of work, useful only when framed as preparation for collaboration, creativity, or belonging. But play is also unruly, disruptive, pressing against the borders of a situation rather than settling within them.

This reading (and listening and viewing) group takes play as both question and method. We will alternate between theory and practice, reading classics of play theory, contemporary critiques, and writings and videos from people who have made play their practice.

Selected/Possible Readings:

• Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens

• Aaron Trammell, Repairing Play: A Black Phenomenology

• Anarchy magazine, no. 7 (September 1961), Adventure Playgrounds

• Roger Caillois, Man, Play, and Games

• Donald Winnicott, Playing and Reality

• Brian Sutton-Smith, The Ambiguity of Play

• Miguel Sicart, Play Matters

• Lady Allen of Hurtwood, Planning for Play

• Arvid Bengtsson, Adventure Playgrounds

• Jack Lambert, Adventure Playgrounds: A Personal Account of a Play-leader’s Work

• Bob Hughes, Evolutionary Playwork

• Wendy Russell & Fraser Brown, Foundations of Playwork

• Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

• John Potter & Kate Cowan, Playing the Archive: From the Opies to the Digital Playground