Description
Book SynopsisArchaeology of Play: The Re-Discovery of Platonic-Aristotelian Tripartivism in Interdisciplinary Discourses proposes that play's antithesis is not seriousness but rather one-dimensionality. This book argues that the rediscovery of Platonic-Aristotelian tripartivism lends to a more expansive appreciation of play in terms of three rhetorical registersnamely, skholé, agon, and paidia. Scholastic play resides in leisure and contemplation. Agonistics is realmed in competition, contests, and power-play, while paidiatics is expressed in lowly ruses, trickeries, recreation, and amusement of the low-bred and the subaltern. By subjecting play to the tripartite lens, Archaeology of Play highlights vital surpluses and lacunae in the treatment of the subject matter and therefore yields a refreshing, re-politicized understanding of play dynamics in the different fields of human endeavor.
Furthermore, Bourdieu's and Rancière's lusory discourses redeem pla
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments – Introduction: Mapping the Playfield – The Scholastic Viewpoint—Play as Leisure and Contemplation – The Agonistic Viewpoint—Play as Power and Competition – The Paidiatic Viewpoint—Play as Amusement and Resistance – Remapping Tripartite Play—Bourdieu and Ranciere – Beyond Lusory Tripartition—Issues and Trajectories: Carnivalia of Interlocutors With Bourdieu and Ranciere as Toastmasters – Index.
