Brian Sutton-Smith memorial panel – a celebration of the life and works of Brian Sutton-Smith

ABSTRACT

On the final day of the 2015 TASP conference, we heard of the sad passing of our great friend and inspiration, Brian Sutton-Smith. The memorial panel, which was one of the centre-pieces of the 2016 TASP conference, was the first opportunity we had to mark his passing. We did so with a selection of memories and reflections on his life. Brian spent his adult life studying the phenomenon of play in all its forms: child and adult; frivolous and serious; sporting and educational; charming and disgusting. He showed that children are not always innocent in their play, and that adults often feel guilty about theirs. His academic legacy lies in hundreds of articles and over fifty books, including the seminal work The Ambiguity of Play (1997). However, those of us who knew him well also remember the great joy with which he lived his life. The Panel was a mixture of friends, collaborators, ex-students and TASP colleagues. All of them had a story to tell about the way this great supporter of TASP touched their lives.

KEYWORDS:

• Ambiguity
• play
• Sutton-Smith

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Fraser Brown who chaired the Panel, is the first Professor of Playwork in the UK. He is program leader for the BA (Hons) Playwork degree at Leeds Beckett University, and specialist link tutor for their postgraduate play therapy courses. Before joining the University he managed a wide range of playwork projects in both the statutory and independent sectors. He is well known for his therapeutic playwork with abused and neglected children. He is co-editor of the International Journal of Play, and his recent publications include 101 Stories of children playing (2014); Rethinking children’s play (2013) (with Michael Patte); and Foundations of playwork (2008)

Anna Beresin is Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and co-Director of NEUARTS, Neighborhood Engagement at the University of the Arts. Her books include Recess battles: Playing, fighting, and storytelling (2010) and The art of play: Recess and the practice of invention (2014). Brian Sutton-Smith was her thesis advisor at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned two doctorates: one in folklore, and one in the psychology of education. She has a book in press on dance games, and is currently filming gorilla play in zoos. See recessbattles.com; recessaccess.org; or http://www.uarts.edu/academics/neuarts-neighborhood-engagement-uarts.

Tom Henricks is Danieley Professor of Sociology at Elon University. He is the author of numerous writings on play, many of which have appeared in The American Journal of Play and Play and Culture Studies. His books include Disputed pleasures: Sport and society in preindustrial England (1991); Play reconsidered: Sociological perspectives on human expression (2006); and selves, societies, and emotions: Understanding the pathways of experience (2012). Another book, Play and the human condition, was published in 2015. He is also a co-editor of the new Handbook of the study of play (2014). He serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Play and the International Journal of Play.

Alice Meckley is Professor of Early Childhood Education Emerita, Millersville University, Pennsylvania. She is a teacher, scholar, and consultant on play and children. As a professor of early childhood education, Alice’s passion and knowledge about children’s play earned her international lectureships and media appearances. As a scholar, a highlight of her career was researching and writing about young children’s social play under the mentorship of Brian Sutton-Smith. Her article, ‘A student’s guide for understanding play through the theories of Brian Sutton-Smith’ (Meckley, 2015) has recently been published in The Handbook for the study of play (Johnson, Eberle, Henricks, & Kuschner, 2015). Alice is an ardent TASPian.

Michael Patte is a Professor of Teaching and Learning at Bloomsburg University. During his 25-year career he has developed an interest in the fields of creativity, child development, and play and has shared his scholarship through publications, international and national conference presentations, and advocacy projects. His latest co-edited book is International perspectives on children’s play (2015). Dr Patte is a Distinguished Fulbright Scholar, co-editor of the International Journal of Play, past president of The Association for the Study of Play, board member of The International Council for Children’s Play, and a member of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Early Learning Council.