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Agon, mimesis and chaos

The remarkabe endurance of play and games across centuries, generations, cultures and countries is quite a story. Both natural and man-made playgrounds change with geograohy, time, and necessity. Technology, culture, and interest change children’s toy choices, but their games, laws and seasons for playing them endure in modified fashion.
Frost, 2010
In my previous write up, I had mentioned three words, ‘Agon, mimesis and chaos’, which are the three routes for understanding play. It was Spariosu (1989), who had interpreted these words, explained it’s meaning and significance for the present situation. A more detailed explanation is available in his book on ‘Play and the aesthetic dimension in modern philosophical and scientific discourse’. Let’s look in brief the significance of these three words.
‘Agon’, meaning  conflict, is one way of considering play. It was a belief that, it was the Greek Gods, who put humans to challenges in the form of war, politics and other forms of conflict, that would test the physical and social capabilities. It was believed that the one who was able to overcome the challenges, had the blessings of god. The Ancient Greeks created a sport version of Agon, where different groups would compete against each other, instead of fighting real war, like throwing lances (javelins), heaving stones (shot put), shooting arrows (archery), and other forms of physical competition to know which individual or group had the blessings of god. These form of competitive play in the form of sports and games is still practised.
‘Mimesis’ meaning mimicry. It is believed that the Ancient Greeks would mimic Gods, in various representational forms , to show their devotion towards God. Spariosu says that the greeks acted in ways that were thought to be pleasing to gods. The Greeks imagined God’s way life and interpreted it through dance forms, which they felt would bring them closer to Gods and would possibly beget God’s favour. The Ancient Greek players used masks to take on new roles, scenes of Gods were depicted as symphonizing human actions has evolved into theatre (plays) ,rituals (religious rites) and other symbolic or dramatic portrayals. Mimesis may be interpreted as imitative or expressive, but it involved acting. Imitation, dramatic presentations or enacting by adults or children are forms of symbolic play which is still seen even today as a form of recreation.
‘Chaos’ or the order and disorder of nature, is a way by which ancient people tried to relate to Gods and understand the purpose of humans  in the world. Predictions were considered as a way in trying to understand the actions of gods. By predicting,  Ancient Greeks took a trust in chance, that all actions had godly interventions and will mark one’s path of life. Predictions were done by tossing bones, studying patterns and drawing lots which was believed to reveal the future of a  person. According to Spariosu, this games of chance is also another form of play, that is seen to this day in the form of gambling, board games, flipping coins and so on.
The Ancient Greeks were very clear about the fact that these three forms are a basis for their philosophy of life and had no relationship with play. But thinkers like Spariosu and Lonsdale interpretation has led us to think of the links between play and agos, mimesis, chaos. In the beginning of the blog there is a quote about play by Frost, where he also opines, that with changing times there is definitely a change in the choice of games, but the rules and ways of playing it will always reamin the same, maybe modified to suite particular conditions. For example, a game called Pagade got modified as Ludo, but people play both forms of games. 
 The forms of play that the ancients have discussed applies to both children and adults. However, there is a lack of supportive literature and recordings of children’s play in ancient times. Children’s play came into limelight during the 17th century, where thinkers began to reconsider, and shifted their focus from religion and beliefs. So wait up for the next blog to see the wave of these thinkers magic wand on the philosophy of child’s play.
Dr. Srividya R.
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Play deepens democracy

The sun beat down strongly on the group of children and volunteers playing in the grounds. But they were not to be deterred. The fact that it was the hottest summer in 85 years did not seem to bother any of them. When it was time to leave, the children all cried out, “noooooooooooooooo akka (older sister), nooooooooooooooo anna (older brother), please don’t go, let’s play some more”. The volunteers promised to be back the next day and packed up the materials at the summer camp before returning to base. On the way out, they had to wade through the sea of children waiting to say bye or inviting them to visit their homes or just hugging them and giving them one of their favourite crafts which they had made that day as a token of their love.

This was the usual scene which was witnessed in all the five summer camps held during the hottest summer that any of the team members of headstreams had ever experienced in their lives. The day after the last camp, as we sat down to share our memories of the summer camps, everybody was brimming with stories and anecdotes of what had happened during the 20 days of camps when a team consisting of 26 of us had reached out to over 1100 children through play. As we reflected on what we had achieved, the list was endless. Physical development, cognitive development, psycho-social development, relationships built, strengths affirmed and so on. These were points which had convinced us to use play as an approach in our work with children and youth in the first place, but one thing that really stood out for me was the one where we arrived at the fact that what we did actually helped deepen democracy. The reasoning was simple but not simplistic, it was deep and plain for all of us to see.

Our summer camps which were built around the concept of play provided children and the volunteers the opportunity to use different mediums such as art, craft, music, stories, theatre and games to express their thoughts, feelings, ideas and build relationships. Children had the autonomy to choose what medium they wanted to use, the type of expression they wanted to display and how they wanted to do it. There were no competitions in identifying the best artist or musician or actor but each one used the medium that connected to them, to bring out the best in themselves. There were minimal hierarchies in terms of age or skill or position and in play each of us just learnt from each other and supported each other in the various tasks we did throughout the day. Shining examples of spontaneous equity was seen when those who needed more help were eagerly supported by the other children or volunteers who stayed with the child until they had completed the chosen activity. Freedom, autonomy, respect, dignity, equity – these were not mere theoretical concepts but were visible in some form or the other all through the twenty days.

We also reflected on how in our mainstream education system these concepts were often overlooked. A top-down, didactic model of education, where everybody was forced to learn the same things, irrespective of interest, aptitude, context or relevance was what most children experienced. Standardised tests which valued those who could learn by rote and reproduce from memory created a new hierarchy of “good students” which excluded more than it included in its graded system of finding favour with school and society. Any skill other than the one recognised by the mainstream school system was not valued among children. For instance, you could be a great artist, or have an interest in music or the liberal arts or even be a really kind person, but none of these were valued. By the time one navigated through the schooling system, many of them ended up labelled as ‘misfits’, ‘good for nothings’, ‘not much talent to speak of’, and so on, with most of them believing it to be true of themselves. So for most children, the ideals of democracy were only concepts printed on paper in their text-books and not something they experienced until perhaps when they were 18 years old and could begin to vote. The summer camps in contrast turned out to be sandboxes where the children could exercise their notions of freedom, autonomy and choice in an environment which fostered equity, respect and dignity.

As we were winding up our meeting, we received a call from a child who asked for her favourite volunteer. ‘Anuakka’, she complained, ‘why didn’t you conduct the summer camp for a longer time this year. What do you want us to do for the rest of the summer?’

Headstreams is registered under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, Section 12A and 80G of Income Tax Act, and FCRA, Regd Office: #2200, HAL II Stage, Bengaluru - 560008, India