A provocative study that reconsiders our notion of play--and how its
deceptively wholesome image has harmed and erased people of color.
Contemporary theorists present play as something wholly constructive and
positive. But this broken definition is drawn from a White European
philosophical tradition that ignores the fact that play can, and often
does, hurt. In fact, this narrow understanding of play has been
complicit in the systemic erasure of Black, Indigenous, and People of
Color (BIPOC) from the domain of leisure. In this book, Aaron Trammell
proposes a corrective: a radical reconsideration of play that expands
its definition to include BIPOC suffering, subjugation, and taboo topics
such as torture. As he challenges and decolonizes White European
thought, Trammell maps possible ways to reconcile existing theories with
the fact that play is often hurtful and toxic.
Trammell upends current notions by exploring play's function as a tool
in the subjugation of BIPOC. As he shows, the phenomenology of play is a
power relationship. Even in innocent play, human beings subtly
discipline each other to remain within unspoken rules. Going further,
Trammell departs from mainstream theory to insist that torture can be
play. Approaching it as such reveals play's role in subjugating people
in general and renders visible the long-ignored experiences of BIPOC.
Such an inclusive definition of play becomes a form of intellectual
reparation, correcting the notion that play must give pleasure while
also recasting play in a form that focuses on the deep, painful, and
sometimes traumatic depths of living.
