Homo Ludens Michael Hallam
Aug 01, 2017
4 minutes
Written by Alma Studholme
In 1938 in his book Homo Ludens, Dutch historian and cultural theorist Johann Huizinga investigates the human activity of play through a detailed analysis of core cultural elements in both Eastern and Western civilisations. As the title in Latin indicates, Huizinga viewed play as one of the defining elements of humanity, and as the main force in the creation of culture.
About five decades later, in a violinist Stephen Nachmanovitch observed that all forms of creative work are various expressions of play. He states that "without play, learning and evolution are impossible"; that to play is to “free ourselves from arbitrary restrictions and expand (Playing Man) could well be describing Hallam.
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