Using cross-cultural, intergenerational play narratives to explore issues of social justice and equity in discourse on children's play

Abstract

Discussion of children's play in international and diverse communities requires careful consideration of social, cultural and political contexts impacting children's lives, as well as recognition of the complexities revealed when these variables are identified and analysed. Using diverse conceptual frameworks represented in the research literature on play – traditional developmental, sociocultural, human rights and poststructural – we analyse examples of children's conceptions about play and retrospective interviews about adults' play memories drawn from two research studies. As a result, we illuminate tensions that exist in global discussions of children's play. Using the goal of improving social justice and equity in children's lives as a foundational framework guiding our analysis and discussion of children's play, we suggest that concluding what is in the best interests of children involves learning to engage in difficult conversations where tensions, complexities and contingencies are objectively and openly explored.

Keywords:

• globalisation
• poststructuralism
• play
• human rights
• memories

Notes on contributors

Priya Mariana Shimpi, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Mills College. As a National Science Foundation predoctoral fellow, she received a PhD in Developmental Psychology in 2006 from the University of Chicago. In 2009, she completed an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she examined the role of cultural and environmental experiences in children's attention and learning. Her current research focuses on the role of experience in children's social and cognitive development, including the role of play in children's learning. At Mills since 2009, she teaches in the Early Childhood Education MA and undergraduate Child Development programmes.

Julie Nicholson, PhD, is an associate professor of practice in the School of Education at Mills College. A former preschool and elementary school teacher, she has a Master's Degree in Developmental Psychology from San Francisco State University and a Master's and PhD in Early Childhood Education from the University of Michigan. She directs the Leadership Programme in Early Childhood at Mills and works on several local and state level policy committees addressing child care and early care and education. Her research examines play across the lifespan, leadership development for early childhood professionals, the use of social networking tools in higher education coursework, and most recently, early childhood system building efforts (prenatal-eight years) within a large urban school district.