Liberation through Play?: Toys and Games as Objects of Indoctrination and Remediation

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Play has long been recognized as a form of liberation from the monotony of everyday life. Influential play theorists, such as Johan Huizinga, claimed that play is a ‘stepping out’ of ‘real life,’ into a “temporary sphere of activity.” This ‘temporary sphere’ can be entirely real to its participants, sometimes even more so than "real life." Moreover, the lessons learned through play can have tangible implications on life outside of it. While play has received considerable academic attention over time, its tools, such as toys and games, are frequently overlooked as objects of study deemed "not serious enough."
Like in other national and cultural contexts, toys and games in the Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and contemporary Russopone world have been understudied. This panel situates the study of play, toys, and games in the region within broader contexts of global play and toys/games theory but also demonstrates how Russophone cultures produced unique artifacts of play. Modes of play were, and continue to be, deeply connected to the political movements and cultural zeitgeists that emerged in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Liliya Dashevski examines toys and games produced in Imperial Russia and their role in cultivating an imperial identity among the children of the upper classes. Karl Qualls explores games produced in the Stalinist era and their contribution to the ideological education of Soviet children. Spencer Small interrogates the impact of technology on video game remediations of Andrei Tarkovskii’s Stalker.

Sub Unit

• Anthropology, Cultural Studies

Chair

• Julie K. deGraffenried, Baylor U

Papers

• Playing at Empire: Toys and Games as Objects of Imperial Education - Liliya Dashevski, Yale U

• What’s in and Game: Play and Games as a Window into the Ideal Stalinist Child(hood) - Karl D. Qualls, Dickinson College

• Remediated Reality: S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Its Post-Soviet Video Game Legacy - Spencer Small, Yale U

Discussant

• Julie K. deGraffenried, Baylor U