Looking towards the non-human animal world has given me the opportunity to better understand the human world. Likewise, as I feel we are in a constant state of translation, communication models hold an immense wealth of tools on how we can be more aware of our own meaning making process as well as be understood by others. With all that said, I come from the mindset that having a playful perspective gives way for more fun to be had and to say the least, makes for a very interesting journey!
Arlene Tucker
Play is the experience of effortless and timeless enjoyment, a subjective immersion in a state of being. Play is an intrinsic value to healthy human growth and is crucial to the persistence of creativity in daily life. The goal of this research is to achieve an approach to re-instilling play into the human world. As the title ‘Meaningful play: Applying Zoosemiotics to game development’ suggests, a practical application of theory will be devised in order to put play to work, so to speak. The play activities suggested, like games and playful installations, are not necessarily new, but are presented in a new form. Frame of mind is the crux of the issue because mental frames are frequently determinative of how and what we perceive. By understanding this concept methods to introduce playful frames will help create better playthings. Play activities and social frames for play can be inspired and informed by the animal world, for human and non-human animals live in an interconnected and interrelated ecosystem. Looking towards the non-human animal world in light of our own can remind us of our animal selves which may get lost amongst modern technology. Zoosemiotics here serves to link the perspectives on play provided by biological and social science with observations of animal behavior, and the practices of creative adaptation, most notably from the perspective of game and play studies.
You are welcome to read my papers based on my research in play, education, zoosemiotics, and translation studies on ut-ee.academia.edu/ArleneTucker. Please do reach out with any thoughts or new research on these topics. Thank you!
You are welcome to read my papers based on my research in play, education, zoosemiotics, and translation studies on ut-ee.academia.edu/ArleneTucker. Please do reach out with any thoughts or new research on these topics. Thank you!
Sources of inspiration.
Aldis, Owen 1975. Play Fighting. New York: Academic Press, Inc.
Archer, John 1992. Ethology and Human Development. Savage, MD: Barnes & Noble Books.
Asquith, Pamela J. 1997. Why Anthropomorphism Is Not Metaphor: Crossing Concepts and Cultures in Animal Behavior Studies. In: Mitchell, Robert W., Thompson, Nicholas S., Miles, H. Lyn, (eds.), Anthropomorphism, Anecdotes, and Animals. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Baker, Steve 1993. Picturing the Beast Animals, identity and representation. Manchester: University Press.
Baker, Steve 2002. What does Becoming-animal look like? In: Rothfels, Nigel (ed.), Representing Animals. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Berger, John 1972. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books. Bettelheim, Bruno 1976. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tale. London: Thames & Hudson.
Bateson, Gregory 1956. The message “This is play.” In Group Processes (Trans. 2nd Conf.). ed. B. Schaffner. New York: Macy Foundation: 145-246. In Fagen, Robert 1981. Animal Play Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 500.
Bateson, Gregory 1972. Steps to an Ecological Mind. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Bateson, P.P.G. 1976. Rules and reciprocity in behavioural development. In: Growing points in ethology. Bateson P.P.G. & R.A. Hinde (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bekoff, Marc (Ed.) 2004. Social play behavior and social morality. In: Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior. Vol 1-3. Westport, CT; London: Greenwood Press: 833-845.
Burghardt, Gordon M. 1997. Amending Tinbergen: A fifth aim for ethology. In Anthropomorphism, Anecdotes and Animals. eds. R.W. Mitchell, N. S. Thompson & H.L. Miles. Albany, NY: SUNY Press: 354-76.
Burghardt, Gordon M. 2006. The Genesis of Animal Play. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Caillois, Roger 2001. Man, Play and Games. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Darwin, Charles 1981. Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Douglas, Mary 1978. Cultural Bias. London: Royal Anthropological Institute. Ehrlich,
Paul R. 1986. The Machinery of Nature. New York: Simon and Schuster Erikson, Erik H. 1977. Toys and Reasons. London: Marion Boyars. Fagen, Robert 1981. Animal Play Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fagen, Robert 1993. Primate juveniles and primate play. In: Juvenile Primates: Life History, Development, and Behavior. M. E. Pereira & L. A. Fairbanks (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press: pp 182-196.
Farina, Almo and Belgrano, Andrea 2005. The eco-field hypothesis: toward a cognitive landscape. In: Landscape Ecology (2006) 21: pp 5-17.
Goodwin, Brian 1994. How the leopard changed its spots: the evolution of complexity. New York: Scribner’s.
Gould, Stephen Jay 1980. A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse. In: The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflection in Natural History. New York: Norton, pp. 95-107.
Groos, Karl 1896. The Play of Animals: Play and Instinct. In Play: Its Role in Devolopment and Evolution. Bruner, J.S., Jolly, A., and Sylva, K. (eds.). New York: Basic Books: 65-67.
Hall, Sarah L. 1998. Object play in adult animals. In Animal Play: Evolutionary, Comparative, and Ecological Perspectives. Bekoff, Marc and Byers, John A. (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 45-60.
Ingold, Tim 2006. The Perception of the Environment. Essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill. London and New York: Routledge.
Jerolmack, Colin 2009. Humans, Animals, and Play: Theorizing Interaction When Intersubjectivity is Problematic. Sociological Theory 27: 4. Washington DC: American Sociological Association: 371-389.
Kepp, Õnne and Lilles, Gunnar 2008. Laps Loob Maailma. Tallinn: Lastekaitse Liit.
Martinelli, Dario 2007. Zoosemiotics: Proposals for a Handbook. Helsinki: International Semiotics Institute at Imatra.
Martinelli, Dario 2009. Introduction. Sign Systems Studies 37 (3/4): 353-368.
Martinelli, Dario 2010. A Critical Companion to Zoosemiotics: People, Paths, Ideas. Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: Springer.
Metz, Christian 1976. The Fiction Film and Its Spectator: A Metapsychological Study. In: New Literary History, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 75-105.
Montagu, Ashley 1989. Growing Young, New York: McGraw Hill.
Morgan, Lewis H. 1868. The American Beaver and His Works. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.
Mullan, Bob; Marvin, Garry 1987. Zoo Culture. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Nachmanovitch, Stephen 2009. This is Play. New Literary History, Vol. 40, No. 1, Winter 2009. The Johns Hopkins University Press: pp. 1-24
Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko 1981. Illness and Healing Among the Sakhalin Ainu: A Symbolic Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Roepstorff, Andreas 2001. Thinking with animals. In: Sign Systems Studies Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 203-217.
Robinson, Michael H. 1991. Niko Tinbergen, comparative studies and evolution. In The Tinbergen Legacy. M.S. Dawkins, T.R. Halliday, and R. Dawkins (eds.). London: Chapman & Hall: 100-128.
Ruesch, Jurgen 2008. Communication, The Social Matrix of Psychiatry. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Sebeok, Thomas A. 1986. I Think I Am a Verb. New York: Plenum Press. Smith, Peter K. 2010. Children and Play. West Sussex: Blackwell Publications.
Trevarthen, Colwyn 1994. Infant Semiosis. In: Origins of Semiosis, Sign Evolution in Nature and Culture. Noth, Winfried (eds.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter: 219-252.
Vehkavaara, Tommi 2007. Limitations on applying Peircean semeiotic: Biosemiotics as applied objective ethics and esthetics rather than semeiotic. In: Barbieri, Marcello (ed.): Biosemiotic Research Trends, Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 17-56.
Vygotsy, L.S. 1978. Mind in Society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Wells, H. G. 1934. The Time Machine. In: Seven Famous Novels. H. G. Wells (ed.). New York: Knopf: pp 3–66.
Archer, John 1992. Ethology and Human Development. Savage, MD: Barnes & Noble Books.
Asquith, Pamela J. 1997. Why Anthropomorphism Is Not Metaphor: Crossing Concepts and Cultures in Animal Behavior Studies. In: Mitchell, Robert W., Thompson, Nicholas S., Miles, H. Lyn, (eds.), Anthropomorphism, Anecdotes, and Animals. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Baker, Steve 1993. Picturing the Beast Animals, identity and representation. Manchester: University Press.
Baker, Steve 2002. What does Becoming-animal look like? In: Rothfels, Nigel (ed.), Representing Animals. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Berger, John 1972. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books. Bettelheim, Bruno 1976. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tale. London: Thames & Hudson.
Bateson, Gregory 1956. The message “This is play.” In Group Processes (Trans. 2nd Conf.). ed. B. Schaffner. New York: Macy Foundation: 145-246. In Fagen, Robert 1981. Animal Play Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 500.
Bateson, Gregory 1972. Steps to an Ecological Mind. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Bateson, P.P.G. 1976. Rules and reciprocity in behavioural development. In: Growing points in ethology. Bateson P.P.G. & R.A. Hinde (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Bekoff, Marc (Ed.) 2004. Social play behavior and social morality. In: Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior. Vol 1-3. Westport, CT; London: Greenwood Press: 833-845.
Burghardt, Gordon M. 1997. Amending Tinbergen: A fifth aim for ethology. In Anthropomorphism, Anecdotes and Animals. eds. R.W. Mitchell, N. S. Thompson & H.L. Miles. Albany, NY: SUNY Press: 354-76.
Burghardt, Gordon M. 2006. The Genesis of Animal Play. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Caillois, Roger 2001. Man, Play and Games. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Darwin, Charles 1981. Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Douglas, Mary 1978. Cultural Bias. London: Royal Anthropological Institute. Ehrlich,
Paul R. 1986. The Machinery of Nature. New York: Simon and Schuster Erikson, Erik H. 1977. Toys and Reasons. London: Marion Boyars. Fagen, Robert 1981. Animal Play Behavior. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fagen, Robert 1993. Primate juveniles and primate play. In: Juvenile Primates: Life History, Development, and Behavior. M. E. Pereira & L. A. Fairbanks (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press: pp 182-196.
Farina, Almo and Belgrano, Andrea 2005. The eco-field hypothesis: toward a cognitive landscape. In: Landscape Ecology (2006) 21: pp 5-17.
Goodwin, Brian 1994. How the leopard changed its spots: the evolution of complexity. New York: Scribner’s.
Gould, Stephen Jay 1980. A Biological Homage to Mickey Mouse. In: The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflection in Natural History. New York: Norton, pp. 95-107.
Groos, Karl 1896. The Play of Animals: Play and Instinct. In Play: Its Role in Devolopment and Evolution. Bruner, J.S., Jolly, A., and Sylva, K. (eds.). New York: Basic Books: 65-67.
Hall, Sarah L. 1998. Object play in adult animals. In Animal Play: Evolutionary, Comparative, and Ecological Perspectives. Bekoff, Marc and Byers, John A. (eds.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 45-60.
Ingold, Tim 2006. The Perception of the Environment. Essays in livelihood, dwelling and skill. London and New York: Routledge.
Jerolmack, Colin 2009. Humans, Animals, and Play: Theorizing Interaction When Intersubjectivity is Problematic. Sociological Theory 27: 4. Washington DC: American Sociological Association: 371-389.
Kepp, Õnne and Lilles, Gunnar 2008. Laps Loob Maailma. Tallinn: Lastekaitse Liit.
Martinelli, Dario 2007. Zoosemiotics: Proposals for a Handbook. Helsinki: International Semiotics Institute at Imatra.
Martinelli, Dario 2009. Introduction. Sign Systems Studies 37 (3/4): 353-368.
Martinelli, Dario 2010. A Critical Companion to Zoosemiotics: People, Paths, Ideas. Springer, Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: Springer.
Metz, Christian 1976. The Fiction Film and Its Spectator: A Metapsychological Study. In: New Literary History, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 75-105.
Montagu, Ashley 1989. Growing Young, New York: McGraw Hill.
Morgan, Lewis H. 1868. The American Beaver and His Works. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.
Mullan, Bob; Marvin, Garry 1987. Zoo Culture. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
Nachmanovitch, Stephen 2009. This is Play. New Literary History, Vol. 40, No. 1, Winter 2009. The Johns Hopkins University Press: pp. 1-24
Ohnuki-Tierney, Emiko 1981. Illness and Healing Among the Sakhalin Ainu: A Symbolic Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Roepstorff, Andreas 2001. Thinking with animals. In: Sign Systems Studies Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 203-217.
Robinson, Michael H. 1991. Niko Tinbergen, comparative studies and evolution. In The Tinbergen Legacy. M.S. Dawkins, T.R. Halliday, and R. Dawkins (eds.). London: Chapman & Hall: 100-128.
Ruesch, Jurgen 2008. Communication, The Social Matrix of Psychiatry. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Sebeok, Thomas A. 1986. I Think I Am a Verb. New York: Plenum Press. Smith, Peter K. 2010. Children and Play. West Sussex: Blackwell Publications.
Trevarthen, Colwyn 1994. Infant Semiosis. In: Origins of Semiosis, Sign Evolution in Nature and Culture. Noth, Winfried (eds.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter: 219-252.
Vehkavaara, Tommi 2007. Limitations on applying Peircean semeiotic: Biosemiotics as applied objective ethics and esthetics rather than semeiotic. In: Barbieri, Marcello (ed.): Biosemiotic Research Trends, Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers, 17-56.
Vygotsy, L.S. 1978. Mind in Society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Wells, H. G. 1934. The Time Machine. In: Seven Famous Novels. H. G. Wells (ed.). New York: Knopf: pp 3–66.
