University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Bodies at play: On the ludic dimensions of human embodiment

Adamson, Matthew Darren

Content Files
ADAMSON-DISSERTATION-2019.pdf
Adamson_LE.pdf

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/106332

Description

Title
Bodies at play: On the ludic dimensions of human embodiment
Author(s)
Adamson, Matthew Darren
Issue Date
2019-10-29
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Sydnor, Synthia
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Sydnor, Synthia
Committee Member(s)
  • Littlefield, Melissa
  • Denzin, Norman
  • Cole, C.L.
  • Woods, Amy
Department of Study
Kinesiology & Community Health
Discipline
Kinesiology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Date of Ingest
2020-03-02T22:12:14Z
Keyword(s)
  • Play
  • Play Theory
  • Embodiment
  • Philosophy of Play
  • Sociology of Play
  • Materiality
  • Body Studies
  • New Materialisms
Abstract
This study introduces a theoretical framework for play with which to explore notions of human embodiment, drawn from philosophical, theological, and theoretical works on play, ritual, and embodiment. In order to do this, I apply an understanding of play as a force that is a part of the world and its life and becoming. From such a view, the world is understood as constituted by a variety of relationships between objects, bodies, forces, people, entities, etc. that are all interconnected in their existence. This opens up a complex web of interwoven relationships, full of “contradictions and ambiguities”, where it becomes difficult to distinguish one actor from another, or one agency from another. As such, I engage a notion of play that can be both light and dark, joyous and tragic, free and compulsory, creative and destructive: to be at play in the world is to transform and to be transformed. To structure this discussion, I introduce four ideas about play: play is constitutive of reality; play is contextually contingent; play is dynamically unstable, and play is agentially tense. Building from this play framework, I put forth the argument that to be embodied is to be “at play”, meaning caught up in that playful web of interrelationships that is the play of the world. To be a human is to be inextricably caught up in the dynamics of the world at play; it is simply unavoidable. Importantly, this embodied play necessarily involves negotiating the body as a potential agency or force itself that can act of its own accord, sometimes acting or embodying meanings against us. I explore the implications of this framing of embodiment, paying particular attention to the relationship between play, embodiment, human limitation, and meaning. I conclude with a discussion of the relevance of the framework of embodiment as play for the study of human embodiment, health, physical activity/exercise, disability, and, more broadly, the human condition.
Graduation Semester
2019-12
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/106332
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2019 Matthew Adamson

Owning Collections

Graduate Dissertations and Theses at Illinois PRIMARY
Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
Dissertations and Theses - Kinesiology and Community Health