This year the TASP conference will take a reflective moment to consider play and play research in the context of a world in transition. In the Financial Times in April 2020, Arundhati Roy described the pandemic as a portal: “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” How is this moment in play history breaking with the past and imagining a world anew?
The image of a portal as a space and time when things transform can also be understood through the lens of liminality. As Ibarra and Obodaru (2020) have noted, expanding on the concept of van Gennep’s Rites of Passage (2013): “Liminality is the individual or group experience of being betwixt and between states, roles, and/or identities. For both individuals and organizations, liminal experience is pervasive, often permanent, intrinsically problematic and a crucible for innovation and growth.” However, the authors theorize on “liminality’s contemporary manifestations” and conceptualize “liminality as a creative process that affects the renewal and adaptability functions that are so vital to personal and organizational thriving.” (p. 471) In other words, now is the time for play.
This liminal space also reminds us of the keynote from last year’s TASP conference in which Lois Holzman, drawing on Vygotskian theory, shared the concept of personal and community development in which “we are and we are becoming” and that the space between who we are and who we are becoming is PLAY.
As such, the organizing principle that guides our conference this year is that now is a reflective moment to consider 1) how play serves as activity that is affected by and is guiding this historic context, 2) what from past play research and theories can guide us to the future or what we must break from and 3) what new play research, theories and methodologies offer promise in imagining a new world.
To this end, the conference calls upon advocates, practitioners, and multidisciplinary scholars that are exploring the potential of play in creating a new world to contribute empirical papers, posters, symposia, and workshops that capture the dimensions of this process.
The Association for the Study of Play recognizes and celebrates the diversity of research and perspectives of the study of play. We believe that new knowledge and understanding is enhanced by diverse perspectives, and our goal is to create an inclusive online conference environment that invites participation from scholars of all races, ethnicities, genders, ages, abilities, religions, nationalities, and sexual orientation. We strive to create a learning space where participants will be treated with respect and dignity and where all individuals are provided an equitable opportunity to participate and contribute.
Topics can include play and its relation to current contexts such as (but not limited to) the following: Cultural transformation Play in the time of COVID; Anti-racist and anti- bias play;
Social and Civil rights movements; Mental health and well-being; Human and Children’s rights;
War and political unrest; Climate change; Risk and freedom; ‘Nothing about us, without us’: Children's participation in play research; Participatory research methodologies with children and young people; Play and the built environment; Nature and play; Historic and emerging theories and methodologies of play; Play in Education; Play in Healing
References:
Holzman, L. (2021, March) The Association for the Study of Play Online Conference.
Ibarra, H., & Obodaru, O. O. (2020). Identity Play and the Creative Potential of Liminal
Experiences. The Oxford handbook of identities in organizations, 471.
Roy, A. (2020). The pandemic is a portal. Financial Times, 3(4).
Van Gennep, A. (2013). The rites of passage. Routledge