PLAY

Years ago when I was studying masking in Native American cultures, I realized that the fundamental theoretical issue is the interplay between two faces and two identities, represented by the mask and the masker. Unlike disguise, mask requires the copresence of two faces that are at once different–often ontologically different–and also the same. Before I could complete and publish the article I was working on–I think it was titled “Dancing the Faces of the Gods”–I realized that I needed to understand play more thoroughly. That led to many years of reading, writing, and reflection with play becoming a central interest of mine over the decades. Largely as an aid to anyone who has an interest in play I provide here a group of writings that are relevant.

As the years passed and my interests expanded to dancing and moving, the dynamics of play took on a larger role transforming into different areas and the construction of new terms. My enduring engagement in moving and dancing complemented by constantly reflecting on what distinguishes these actions and the implications for appreciating the distinctiveness of being human have led to my current explorations of what I refer to as “aesthetic of impossibles,” the holding together as the same, even identical, things we know all along are not the same at all. Where, decades ago this concern arose with regard to masking, it expanded to play, and now is what I’d consider the core insight that drives what may be my most important and potentially valuable contributions. This idea played a large role in my award winning book The Proper Study of Religion (2020) and is the subject of an ongoing ArtBook Series “Aesthetic of Impossibles” with the most important volume from my perspective being On Moving (2022).

While not updated from years ago, 2009 I believe, some readers may still find the following of interest.

Play and the Future of the Study of Religion … and the Academy

The future of the study of religion and the academy itself is of utmost importance deserving our most careful and boldly creative attention.  I learned of Tyler Roberts’s essay “All Work and No Play: Chaos, Incongruity and Differance in The Study of Religion” and Mark Taylor’s “Refiguring Religion” as I was working on completing several essays on play. Both consider play, including some things I have written on play, in the context of the discussion of the study of religion. The congruence not only seemed fortuitous to my work on play, but it also came at a time when I have become increasingly concerned about and interested in the longer-term future of the study of religion and the broader academy. I think both are undergoing unprecedented challenges which I think we academics are largely ignoring. I also think that the academy is facing challenges that will, over the next several decades, demand deep and revolutionary changes. I see this as an opportunity, a creative challenge to recreate ourselves and what we do anew, but only if we take up the challenge now. To initiate the conversation I have written some of my ideas about the future of our enterprise. To make it convenient for others to enter this conversation I have collected materials related to the study of religion and the study of play.

Framing Essays:

  • Sam Gill, “Play and the Future of the Study of Religion … and the Academy”  2009    PDF
  • Tyler Roberts, “All Work and No Play: Chaos, Incongruity and Différance in The Study of Religion” PDF
  • Mark Taylor, “Refiguring Religion” PDF

Supporting Essays:

  • Gregory Bateson, “A Theory of Play and Fantasy”  PDF
  • Jean Baudrillard, Seduction, pp. 5 – 49   PDF
  • Jacques Derrida, “Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences”  PDF
  • Hans-Georg Gadamer, “Play as the Clue to the Ontology of Art”   PDF
  • Sam Gill, “No Place to Stand: Jonathan Z. Smith as Homo Ludens, the Academic Study of Religion Sub Specie Ludi”  PDF
  • Sam Gill, “Play” PDF
  • Sam Gill, “Embodied Theology”  PDF
  • Sam Gill, “The Glory Jest and Riddle:  Stephen Hawking and A Brief History of Time“   PDF
  • Sam Gill, “Charles Sanders Peirce:  Play and the Logic of Discovery”  PDF
  • Sam Gill, “The Powerful Play Goes On:  Friederich Schiller to Jacque Derrida on Play”   PDF
  • Sam Gill, “Go Up Into the Gaps:  The Play of Native American Religions”   PDF
  • Sam Gill, Storytracking, Chapters 7 & 8  PDF
  • Sam Gill, “Play as Pedagogy”  PDF
  • Sam Gill, “The New Education: Digital Media Enables Whole Bodies” Post
  • Sam Gill, “Crises and Opportunities” Post
  • Don Handleman, “Passages to Play: Paradox and Process”  PDF
  • Mark Johnson, The Meaning of the Body, pp. 1-32  PDF1 PDF2
  • Milan Kundera, “The Day Panurge No Longer Makes People Laugh”  PDF
  • Maurice Merleau-Ponty, “The Intertwining–The Chiasm”  PDF
  • Charles Sanders Peirce, “Neglected Argument for the Reality of God”  PDF
  • Friedrich Schiller, On the Aesthetic Eduction of Man Letters 11 – 13, 15, 16  PDF
  • Thomas Sebeok, The Play of Musement, pp. 1 – 51  PDF
  • Jonathan Z. Smith “Map is Not Territory” PDF
  • Jonathan Z. Smith, The Glory, Jest and Riddle: James George Frazer and The Golden Bough. Selection   PDF
  • Jonathan Z. Smith, “Playful Acts of the Imagination”  PDF