Bishop, J. orcid.org/0000-0003-1926-9715 (2023) 1. ‘Tag, You’ve Got Coronavirus!’ chase games in a Covid frame. In: Beresin, A. and Bishop, J., (eds.) Play in a Covid Frame: Everyday Pandemic Creativity in a Time of Isolation. Open Book Publishers , pp. 3-32. ISBN 9781800648913
Abstract
Children in many parts of the world commonly play games of touch chase, in which the chaser catches the other players by tapping them, the role of chaser often then transferring to the caught player. At the time of the global spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, reports began to crop up, especially on social media, of children playing chasing games with names like Coronavirus Tag, Corona Tip, Infection and Covid Tiggy. In these, the chaser was the virus and had to chase the others who, when caught, then ‘got the virus’. Games with ‘corona rules’ also emerged, in which children adapted the chase games to circumvent or accommodate social distancing measures imposed on them. The chapter draws on children’s testimony and adults’ observations of these coronavirus tag games, particularly Twitter posts, to trace their rapid emergence on an international scale, their varied and ingenious forms and potential functions. The focus is on the players’ perceptions and experiences in order to emphasize the fluidity and dynamism of this play and to trouble adults’ tendency to adult-centric and monolithic interpretations. The chapter argues that it is essential to consider such games both in the context of the pandemic and from a comparative and historical perspective. This highlights that what children did in making their games of coronavirus tag is in fact just one example of what they do on a day-to-day basis when there is no pandemic, drawing on mediascapes, and the material, environmental and temporal resources available to them, in often overlooked and undervalued acts of everyday creativity and resourcefulness.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Editors: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 Julia Bishop. This work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). |
Keywords: | Children; play; games; touch chase; chaser; Covid-19 pandemic; social media; Coronavirus Tag; Corona Tip; Infection; Covid Tiggy; corona rules; social distancing; testimony; observations; Twitter posts; international scale; fluidity; dynamism; adult-centric; perceptions; experiences; comparative perspective; historical perspective; mediascapes; material resources; environmental resources; temporal resources; everyday creativity; resourcefulness |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Education (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 29 Jun 2023 15:50 |
Last Modified: | 30 Jun 2023 13:10 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Open Book Publishers |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.11647/obp.0326.01 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:200966 |