The editors of the International Journal of Play have toyed with the creation of a regular column in this journal, a Sutton-Smynthesis in honor of our friend and mentor Professor Emeritus Brian Sutton-Smith. In this spirit, our Playful Introduction examines the rhetorics of our own articles and attempts to synthesize an array of playful study. Sutton-Smith must be smiling (or smirking) at the rhetorical analysis of the miniature body politic in ‘The Rhetoric of Toys: Barbie for President.’ Liz Sills invokes Walter Benjamin in the discussion of toys as miniature tools, and gives voice to theorists, to the dolls, and to Barbie’s maker, Mattel. As an American observing our own presidential marketing, I cannot help but note how timely this is: we’ve come a long way from Barbie’s ‘Glam-paign,’ or have we? Francisco Javier Lopez Frias and Xavier Gimeno Monfort examine the ideal life worth living through Bernard Suit’s idea of ludic rationality in ‘Utopia and the Meaning of Life: Ludic Reason versus Instrumental Reason in Bernard Suit’s Work.’ These two articles pair well, perhaps a taste of the future.
For those seeking to apply theory to practice, we offer ‘Why Are the Children Not Outdoors? Factors Supporting and Hindering Outdoor Play in Greek Public Day Care Centres,’ which looks at remarks by several hundred Greek educators and examines the role of the perception of safety and sufficiency of materials in the support of play. The author Elida Kalpogianni makes a case that the study of one culture’s perceptions may offer a model for the study of perceptions in other places. Australian researchers K. S. Beetham, J. Sterman, et al. share ‘Lower Play Tolerance of Play for Children with Disability than Typically-developing Children.’ In their comparative study, parents with children with developmental disabilities were less tolerant of risk, according to their lovely acronym, Tolerance of Risk in Play Scale (TRiPS).
In ‘Putting Play in Its Place: Presenting a Continuum to Decrease Mental Health Referrals and Increase Purposeful Play in Classrooms’ by Karyn Allee-Herndon, Dalena Dillman Taylor, and Sherron Killingsworth Roberts, these authors from the U.S. make a case that as children have more access to developmentally appropriate play opportunities the need for mental health referrals decreases. How significant this could be if applied globally. Joan Moore’s ‘The Storying Spiral: A Narrative-dramatic Approach to Life Story Therapy with Adoptive/Foster Families and Traumatized Children’ grew out of the author’s Theater of Attachment approach in the U.K., and sees success with the re-settlement of adoptive and Foster children through playful activity across a wide range of ages.
Elizabeth Tucker’s Books Worth (Re) Reading brings us simultaneously to games in turn of the century London with a book by Norman Douglas and a game collection study in the U.K. from the mid-1960s to the 1980s by N.G.N. Kelsey, allowing us to be in multiple times simultaneously. In our latest book reviews, Chris Martin examines Aspects of Playwork: Play and Culture Studies by our own Fraser Brown and Bob Hughes. The multidisciplinary scholar Suzanne Gaskins reviews Children’s Play and Learning in Brazil, edited by Ilka Dias Bichara and Celina Maria Colino Magalhaes. If you would like to nominate new books or old for review, feel free to be in touch with our Book Reviews Editor, Sylwyn Guilbaud. As always, we seek reviews and scholarly articles rooted in a diverse, playful, cultural study.
The increasingly popular ‘Memories of Play’ column takes us to Nigeria, with Sofiyah Ibidiunni enjoying freedom of movement at her grandmother’s home in Lagos, and Taylor Montana appreciating her Pennsylvanian imaginary trips around the coast of Africa and across the Bermuda Triangle. As Gregory Bateson reminded us, ‘The world is no longer “out there” in quite the same way that it used to seem to be’ (About Bateson, 1977, p. 245). Perhaps we should begin to map places the journal articles study, both around the globe and through our author’s imaginations? And what are the connections between the two?
Enjoy.