What do you think?
Rate this book
Why We Play: An Anthropological Study
Whether it’s childhood make-believe, the theater, sports, or even market speculation, play is one of humanity’s seemingly purest a form of entertainment and leisure and a chance to explore the world and its possibilities in an imagined environment or construct. But as Roberte Hamayon shows in this book, play has implications that go even further than that. Exploring play’s many dimensions, she offers an insightful look at why play has become so ubiquitous across human cultures.
Hamayon begins by zeroing in on Mongolia and Siberia, where communities host national holiday games similar to the Olympics. Within these events Hamayon explores the performance of ethical values and local identity, and then she draws her analysis into larger ideas examinations of the spectrum of play activities as they can exist in any culture. She explores facets of play such as learning, interaction, emotion, strategy, luck, and belief, and she emphasizes the crucial ambiguity between fiction and reality that is at the heart of play as a phenomenon. Revealing how consistent and coherent play is, she ultimately shows it as a unique modality of action that serves an invaluable role in the human experience.
Hamayon begins by zeroing in on Mongolia and Siberia, where communities host national holiday games similar to the Olympics. Within these events Hamayon explores the performance of ethical values and local identity, and then she draws her analysis into larger ideas examinations of the spectrum of play activities as they can exist in any culture. She explores facets of play such as learning, interaction, emotion, strategy, luck, and belief, and she emphasizes the crucial ambiguity between fiction and reality that is at the heart of play as a phenomenon. Revealing how consistent and coherent play is, she ultimately shows it as a unique modality of action that serves an invaluable role in the human experience.
- GenresAnthropology
370 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2016
5 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 1, 2017
This really disappointed me. After recently re-reading Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture, I was hoping for a more contemporary view on play, something that really brings the field up to date. Instead, this focuses almost exclusively on one group of people, and draws almost all of its observations and conclusions from there.
A modern examination of play should at least acknowledge the existence of video games and the resurgence of board games. It should look at gambling and the regulation of play. It should look at make-believe games, theatre, and Lego. It should look at concepts of "playing the stock market" alongside professional sports. It should examine serious games, the use of games in education, and the gamification of everything from sales to community participation. Most importantly, it should try to see the common threads that all of these have: where does play stop being a game? What function does play serve, for the community and the individual?
Humayon barely acknowledges the existence of any form of play outside Buryat rituals, other than occasional nods to Tertullian. In fact, she explicitly dismisses most things that aren't part of her own ethnographic data. For her, all forms of play must have a physical element, which excludes such things as guessing games, Sudoku, and so on.
If the book had been called Sport, Shamanism and Superstition in Mongolia, it would have been fine. It's a detailed look at some interesting data. But it's not, by any means, an attempt to answer the broader question of Why We Play.
A modern examination of play should at least acknowledge the existence of video games and the resurgence of board games. It should look at gambling and the regulation of play. It should look at make-believe games, theatre, and Lego. It should look at concepts of "playing the stock market" alongside professional sports. It should examine serious games, the use of games in education, and the gamification of everything from sales to community participation. Most importantly, it should try to see the common threads that all of these have: where does play stop being a game? What function does play serve, for the community and the individual?
Humayon barely acknowledges the existence of any form of play outside Buryat rituals, other than occasional nods to Tertullian. In fact, she explicitly dismisses most things that aren't part of her own ethnographic data. For her, all forms of play must have a physical element, which excludes such things as guessing games, Sudoku, and so on.
If the book had been called Sport, Shamanism and Superstition in Mongolia, it would have been fine. It's a detailed look at some interesting data. But it's not, by any means, an attempt to answer the broader question of Why We Play.
September 15, 2017
In this book Hamayon analyses Play as a fundamental human behaviour and demonstrates how Play is worthy not only of anthropological attention but also to be elevated to a fully-fledged analytical category. In fact, the author considers the discipline’s lack of attention to play a projection of Western bias that considers playing and games as a ‘non-serious’ kind of doing.
In her pursue of demonstrating the relevance of play, Hamayon uses ethnographic examples from her long term fieldwork with the Buryat people. After defining her approach to play as a process and defining it as a modality of action, she proceeds to analyse several aspects of play, including the physical, the mental, the social, the emotional, and the power and gender dynamics. The newly coined notion of play allows for the inclusion of games, dance, hunting and rituals into the analyses.
The value of Hamayon’s contribution to the discipline of anthropology is that her theoretical approach to play can be applied to a number of activities and case studies across cultures. As a result, the book is more than an ethnographic account of Buryat games, but becomes a theoretical tool for other scholars to use in their research.
In her pursue of demonstrating the relevance of play, Hamayon uses ethnographic examples from her long term fieldwork with the Buryat people. After defining her approach to play as a process and defining it as a modality of action, she proceeds to analyse several aspects of play, including the physical, the mental, the social, the emotional, and the power and gender dynamics. The newly coined notion of play allows for the inclusion of games, dance, hunting and rituals into the analyses.
The value of Hamayon’s contribution to the discipline of anthropology is that her theoretical approach to play can be applied to a number of activities and case studies across cultures. As a result, the book is more than an ethnographic account of Buryat games, but becomes a theoretical tool for other scholars to use in their research.
August 16, 2019
It was a fine book, just think I was looking for a broader and more approachable theoretical stance. There are quite a lot of threads to keep in mind simultaneously.
I do however, really like that there is a someone approaching play again as it seems to be quite useful when understanding humans.
I do however, really like that there is a someone approaching play again as it seems to be quite useful when understanding humans.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews