Disclaimer: due to the coronavirus pandemic, this course description might be subject to changes. For the latest updates regarding corona virus, please check this link.
Topics: Play, Dark Play, Joking Relations, Ethnography, Embodied Knowledge, Liminality, Religion, Art, Performance, Politics.
Disciplines:
Social and Behavioural Sciences: Cultural Anthropology, Political Sciences, Psychology, Child Studies; History; Art Studies; Religion Studies.
Skills: Researching, Analysing, Project-based working, Collaborating, Oral communication, Written communication, Presenting, Societal awareness, Reflecting, Independent learning, Resilience, Ethnographic field research, Critical thinking.
Admission requirements:
This course is an (extracurricular) Honours Class: an elective course within the Honours College programme. Third year students who don’t participate in the Honours College, have the opportunity to apply for a Bachelor Honours Class. Students will be selected based on i.a. their motivation and average grade.
Description:
This course in its essence is play.
Inspired by the famous Leiden historian Johan Huizinga, who understood that '... civilisation is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play (...), it arises in and as play, and never leaves it.' (Huizinga 1955:173), play takes centre stage in this course. In order to understand play, we have to play. Therefore, this course consists of three pillars: doing play (in the classroom), thinking play (by creatively applying academic concepts), and exploring play (by going out in the world equipped with play theory).
In 8 seminars we will study play within different social fields such as kinship, religion, politics and wellbeing, but also the arts and child development. Children obviously play. But as adults, we also play: not only in leisure time (e.g. music, sports and games) but also in our professional lives, the element of play is a driving force in our behaviour and choices. In this course, we aim to combine theoretical insights and critical reflections with experimental modes of learning. Therefore, next to the application of imaginative practices and creative methodologies in class students will look for play in their own lifeworld and conduct field research.
Leading questions for this course are: Why should we study such a frivolous activity as play? Why, how, when and where do humans play? How do we even recognize play? Is play connected to the wild side of human nature? Can it be serious? Why are ambiguities and paradoxes so inherently connected to play? How is play connected to our deepest desires and fears?
Course objectives:
After completing this course, you will be:
familiar with a broad range of insights on human play and playful behaviour;
able to conduct qualitative research;
be able to value and reflect upon experiential learning through the use of our senses
be able to take your position in current scholarly debates on play as an essential part of human nature and society.
Programme and timetable:
The meetings will take place on Fridays from 13.15 - 16.00.
During each session, we play, discuss play theory and talk about your research project.
Session 1: September 30
Introduction: Play Theory and Practice
Session 2: October 7
Play and child development
Session 3: October 14
Playing with Kinship / Play in Kinship
Session 4: October 21
Religion as Play
Session 5: November 4
Playing Politics
Session 6: Individual dates and times
Individual meeting with instructors & Fieldwork
Session 7: Individual dates and times
Fieldwork & individual meeting with instructors
Session 8: December 2
Play as a Source for Well-Being
Session 9: December 9
Art as Play – creative workshop
Session 10: December 16 (13.15 - 16.30)
Concluding Seminar: Research Presentations (depending on number of research projects, this meeting may take longer than 3 hours)
Location:
Pieter de la Court, room 1B01
Reading list:
Huizinga, J. (1949) Homo Ludens, a study of the play element in culture. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul (Foreword and page 1 – 14)
Aupers, S (2015) Spiritual Play: Encountering the Sacred in World of Warcraft. Chapter 3 in: de Lange, Michiel et.al Playful Identities: The Ludification of Digital Media Cultures, Amsterdam University Press
Nicolopoulou, A. (1993). Play, Cognitive Development, and the Social World: Piaget, Vygotsky, and Beyond in: Human Development 36:1-23
Launay, R. (2006) Practical Joking (La Practique de la Plaisanterie) in: Cahiers d’Études Africaines 46(184): 795-808.
Vandewaetere, S. (2015) Playing After Auschwitz: the case of Primo Levi and Johan Huizinga’s Homo Ludens. Incontri
And a number of documentaries.
Other literature will be announced in class and via Brightspace.
Course load and teaching method:
This course is worth 5 ECTS, which means the total course load equals 140 hours:
Meetings: 8 x 3h = 24 hours (participation is mandatory)
Literature reading: 5 hours x 7 weeks = 35 hours
Preparatory assignments: 3 hours x 7 weeks = 21 hours
Preparing and writing research proposal: 25 hours
Fieldwork: 2 x 3h = 6 hours
Final assignment: 30 hours
Assessment methods:
10% Preparatory assignments, deadline: each week before noon on Friday;
30% Research proposal, deadline: before meeting 6;
20% Presentation during class, various deadlines;
40% Final assignment (video, academic blog series or artistic expression with explanatory text), deadline: before meeting 10.
Students can only pass this course after successful completion of all partial exams.
Brightspace and uSis:
Brightspace will be used in this course. Upon admission students will be enrolled in Brightspace by the teaching administration.
Please note: students are not required to register through uSis for the Bachelor Honours Classes. Your registration will be done centrally.
Registration process:
Submitting an application for this course is possible from 15 August 2022 up to and including Thursday 1 September 2022 23:59 through the link on the Honours Academy student website.
Note: students don’t have to register for the Bachelor Honours Classes in uSis. The registration is done centrally before the start of the class.
Contact:
Nienke van der Heide: n.van.der.heide@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
Nienke Muurling: nienke@muurling.net