Olusoga, Y. orcid.org/0000-0002-4779-574X, Bannister, C. orcid.org/0000-0002-2094-3714 and Bishop, J.C. orcid.org/0000-0003-1926-9715 (2024) Infection or inflection? Reflecting on constructions of children and play through the prism of the COVID-19 pandemic. Global Studies of Childhood, 14 (1). pp. 26-41. ISSN 2043-6106
Abstract
During crisis times, what children are playing and what grown-ups think their games signify can become a focus of adult anxiety. The Play Observatory, a COVID-19 research project, drew on folklore studies and cultural histories of childhood to collect, document and understand what children were playing and doing during extraordinary times, in ways which were meaningful to children themselves. This article discusses some of the children’s and families’ contributions, juxtaposed with children’s contributions to the archive of childhood folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, to highlight and contest adultist interpretations around children’s play during difficult times. We suggest that these interpretations are rooted in particular social constructions of the child, of childhood and of play that reflect themes of innocence, purity and vulnerability, and the need for adult protection from contamination, both material and symbolic. We introduce the idea of ‘inflection’ to suggest how habitual and perennial forms of play may be made to temporarily accommodate contemporary issues by the players as opposed to the play (and hence the child) being ‘infected’ with troubling or distressing themes which detract from idealised constructs of childhood.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | archives; children’s play; COVID-19 pandemic; inflection |
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: | 22 Mar 2024 11:49 |
Last Modified: | 20 Dec 2024 14:45 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/20436106241234356 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:210663 |