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Australian Children’s Folklore: Playing with Intangible Heritage

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 15:50 authored by Katherine Darian-SmithKatherine Darian-Smith
The documentation and institutional collection of Australian children's play activities provides fascinating insights into the everyday cultures and practices of children, and by extension, of the broader social world that they inhabit. Detailed observational studies of children's play in Australia date from the 1950s, and demonstrate how the dynamics of continuity and change within traditional playlore may reflect broader cultural and social influences on the play lives of children, including such factors as consumerism, popular culture, national and community histories, and geography. There is a diverse historical and contemporary material culture associated with play, ranging from knucklebones to swap cards to electronic devices. There are also intangible aspects of play cultures, such as skipping and chanting games, spoken and sung words, stories and physical movements. However, in practice, children's play consists of the fluid interaction between such tangible and intangible forms. This paper argues that, contrary to international heritage frameworks that seek to distinguish between tangible and intangible heritage, the significance of everyday children's play activities can only be analysed and understood as a holistic and living process.

History

Publication title

Historic Environment

Volume

22

Pagination

48-53

ISSN

0726-6715

Department/School

College Office - College of Arts, Law and Education

Publisher

Council for the Historic Environment

Place of publication

Australia

Rights statement

© Australia International Council on Monuments and Sites

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in built environment and design

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