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1

Kukushkin, Igor Alekseevich, Evgeniy Anatolievich Dmitriev, and Alexei Igorevich Kukushkin. "Petrov culture burial site near the village of Taldy (Karkaralinsk District, Karaganda Region)." Samara Journal of Science 7, no. 2 (June 15, 2018): 150–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.17816/snv201872202.

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The following paper contains investigation results of the randomly discovered ancient burial site near the village of Taldy (Central Kazakhstan). Accompanying inventory is represented by metal celt-adze, a highly fragmented bracelet with a spiral wound end and a ceramic vessel with a ribbed shoulder and geometric ornament. The obtained material allows attributing the burial site to the Petrov culture of the Bronze Age. The authors of the paper proceed from the weak argumentation of the regional analogue of Petrovka, the Nurtai culture singled out at the end of the 20th century. The current base of sources is characterized by heterogeneity. In this connection, the early Andronian antiquities of Central Kazakhstan should be considered within the framework of the Petrov culture with the possible further allocation of a local variant or stage. Celt-adze found here is quite interesting. It has analogies with the Dolgaya Gora monuments findings (Abashevskaya culture), Tanabergen II (Sintashta culture), Nurataldy-1, Kenotkel XVIII (Petrov culture) and Shaitan Lake II (Koptyakovskaya culture). According to the formal and typological features, the specimens found are divided into two subtypes: the early one - Abashev-Sintashta and the later one - Petrovsky-Koptyakovsky. The Dolgaya Gora finding presupposes the birth of this type of tools in the late Abashev culture of the Urals. The well-known ethnographic parallels allow us to establish that the products were intended for straining poles, sanding the tree, removing the core from blanks and other works related to woodworking.
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2

Khokhlov, Alexander A., and Artem P. Grigorev. "Craniological materials from the burials of the abashev culture of the final Middle Bronze Age in the Volga and Ural regions." Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Istoriya, no. 69 (February 1, 2021): 132–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.17223/19988613/69/20.

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3

Mednikova, Maria, Irina Saprykina, Sergey Kichanov, and Denis Kozlenko. "The Reconstruction of a Bronze Battle Axe and Comparison of Inflicted Damage Injuries Using Neutron Tomography, Manufacturing Modeling, and X-ray Microtomography Data." Journal of Imaging 6, no. 6 (June 8, 2020): 45. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jimaging6060045.

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A massive bronze battle axe from the Abashevo archaeological culture was studied using neutron tomography and manufacturing modeling from production molds. Detailed structural data were acquired to simulate and model possible injuries and wounds caused by this battle axe. We report the results of neutron tomography experiments on the bronze battle axe, as well as manufactured plastic and virtual models of the traumas obtained at different strike angles from this axe. The reconstructed 3D models of the battle axe, plastic imprint model, and real wound and trauma traces on the bones of the ancient peoples of the Abashevo archaeological culture were obtained. Skulls with traces of injuries originate from archaeological excavations of the Pepkino burial mound of the Abashevo culture in the Volga region. The reconstruction and identification of the injuries and type of weapon on the restored skulls were performed. The complementary use of 3D visualization methods allowed us to make some assumptions on the cause of death of the people of the Abashevo culture and possible intra-tribal conflict in this cultural society. The obtained structural and anthropological data can be used to develop new concepts and methods for the archaeology of conflict.
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4

Koryakova, Ludmila N., Rüdiger Krause, Sofya E. Panteleeva, Eliza Stolarczyk, Ekaterina A. Bulakova, Nikolai V. Soldatkin, Alexei Yu Rassadnikov, et al. "THE SETTLEMENT OF KONOPLYANKA 2 IN THE SOUTHERN TRANS-URALS: NEW ASPECTS OF RESEARCH." Ural Historical Journal 69, no. 4 (2020): 61–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.30759/1728-9718-2020-4(69)-61-73.

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The article presents preliminary results of the study of the Bronze Age settlement Konoplyanka 2 in the valley of the Karagaily-Ayat River (Kartaly district of the Chelyabinsk region). The materials demonstrate the manifestations of mobility that occurred in different chronological periods of the Late Bronze Age. Topical problems such as the existence of open villages in the South Trans-Urals in Sintashta time and the features of post-Sintashta age settlements are also investigated. The settlement consists of clusters formed by close or adjacent buildings with a linear planning principle. Line 1 consists of the rectangular structures of the Srubnaya (first phase) and Cherkaskul (second phase) cultures. Four wells located along the central axis were discovered in the excavated building. Line 2, with no external features, was discovered by geophysical studies. The building under study contained the Abashevo type ceramics and traces of metallurgy typical for the Sintashta and Abashevo cultures. Radiocarbon dates span an almost continuous interval from the 20th to the 16th century BC, in which the Abashevo claster occupies the earliest position, being partially synchronous with the earlier investigated fortified settlement of Konoplyanka, but not culturally related. The cluster of the Srubnaya-Cherkaskul houses is the latest. The article discusses the diachronic settling and issue of the eastwards spread of the Abashevo population, and the assimilation of the Trans-Urals by Srubnaya cultural complex population.
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5

Rahimi Jafari, Narges. "La asimilación de la cultura irania por cinco califas abasíes." Anaquel de Estudios Árabes 30 (April 9, 2019): 251–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/anqe.59780.

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En el presente artículo, se describe cómo los abasíes se apoyaron en los iranios para alcanzar el poder, y una vez logrado, siguieron dependiendo de ellos para regir su califato. Esta unión en un principio política, desembocó en la asimilación de ciertos componentes culutrales iranios por los abasíes. Este proceso histórico-cultural se inició con el primer califa abasí y continuó en los siguientes califas hasta alcanzar su cénit con al-Ma'mūn. Este artículo muestra cómo y en qué aspectos, cinco de los primeros califas abasíes emularon a los reyes sasánidas y en general a todos iranios.
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6

Nordqvist, Kerkko, and Volker Heyd. "The Forgotten Child of the Wider Corded Ware Family: Russian Fatyanovo Culture in Context." Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 86 (November 12, 2020): 65–93. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2020.9.

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The Fatyanovo Culture, together with its eastern twin, the Balanovo Culture, forms part of the pan-European Corded Ware Complex. Within that complex, it represents its eastern expansion to the catchment of the Upper and Middle Volga River in the European part of Russia. Its immediate roots are to be found in the southern Baltic States, Belarus, and northern Ukraine (the Baltic and Middle-Dnepr Corded Ware Cultures), from where moving people spread the culture further east along the river valleys of the forested flatlands. By doing so, they introduced animal husbandry to these regions. Fatyanovo Culture is predominately recognised through its material culture imbedded in its mortuary practices. Most aspects of every-day life remain unknown. The lack of an adequate absolute chronological framework has thus far prevented the verification of its internal cultural dynamics while overall interaction proposed also on typo-stratigraphical grounds suggests a contemporaneity with other representations of the Corded Ware Complex in Europe. Fatyanovo Culture is formed by the reverse movement to the (north-)east of the Corded Ware Complex, itself established in the aftermath of the westbound spread of Yamnaya populations from the steppes. It thus represents an important link between west and east, pastoralists and last hunter-gatherers, and the 3rd and the 2nd millennia bc. Through its descendants (including Abashevo, Sintashta, and Andronovo Cultures) it becomes a key component in the development of the wider cultural landscape of Bronze Age Eurasia.
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7

Degtyareva, A. D., and N. V. Ryndina. "Knives of the Petrovka Culture in the Southern Trans-Urals: morphological and typological characteristics." VESTNIK ARHEOLOGII, ANTROPOLOGII I ETNOGRAFII, no. 3 (50) (August 28, 2020): 17–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.20874/2071-0437-2020-50-3-2.

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The paper reports morphological and typological characteristics of knives of the Petrovka Culture in the Southern Trans-Urals and Middle Tobol River region (the Early Alakul period, as defined by N.V. Vinogradov). According to the 14С dates (36 dates in total, half them are AMS dates), the chronological period of the Petrovka sites in the Southern Trans-Urals spans the 19th through 18th centuries BC. The inventory metal complexes of the Late Bronze Age cultures between the Don and Ishim Rivers, despite the large territory, have many common types of tools. This is particularly noticeable when comparing the largest category of the tools — the knives (49 specimens). Differentiation of the tools by type was based on the methodology of typological attribution of the inventory taking into account the presence or absence of particular qualitative characteristics and their combina-tion — analysis of the handle decoration, presence of a bolster, knife tang, shape of the transition from the blade to the tang, and shape and cross-section of the blade. Alongside the morphological and typological characteriza-tion of the knives, mapping the tools finds and was also carried out with the search for analogues in neighboring cultures. The most effective results have been obtained by mapping of tools with rhombic tangs, crosshair and interception, which are most numerous (147 specimens). We have identified three types of the knives with promi-nent massive handle, knives with forged sleeve and seven types of the tools with tangs. The identified types of the Petrovka Culture of the Southern Trans-Urals are more or less characteristic of the family of related cultures of the Eurasian forest-steppe and steppe belt — Abashevo, Sintashta, Petrovka, Early Srubnaya, and sites of the Potapovka and Pokrovka types. On the basis of the statistical data, there have been identified the types of the knives with a massive handle, as well as those with a forged sleeve, which are predominantly associated with the metalwork centers of the Petrovka Culture. We have unraveled the particular significance of the knives with rhombic tangs, crosshair and interception in the ritual practices of the entire circle of the cultures from the forest-steppe and steppe belt, apparently related to the special social status of the buried individuals. Prototypes of most forms of knives with tangs have been found in the stereotypes of the objects from the production centers of the Circumpontian Metallurgical Province. The common momentum for the genesis of the forest-steppe and steppe cultures, originating from the Middle Bronze Age cultures of the Eastern Europe and Ural, explains the common morphology of the knives for the family of the related cultures of the first phase of the Eurasian Metallurgical Pro-vince with a variety of forms and in contrast to the uniform shape of the knives of the Srubnaya and Alakul types of the second phase of the Eurasian Province.
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8

Yudin, A. I. "CERAMIC COMPLEX OF THE MALAYA SOPKA SANCTUARY OF THE BRONZE AGE ON THE LOWER DON." Izvestiya of Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. History Sciences 3, no. 2 (2021): 137–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.37313/2658-4816-2021-3-2-137-166.

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The paper contains an analysis of the ceramic collection of the bronze age sanctuary Malaya Sopka. The sanctuary is located in the Oktyabrsky district of the Rostov region and was investigated in 2017. A little more than 10,000 square meters of the cultural layer of the сentral part of the monument were studied, which is about two-thirds of the total area. On the entire territory of the excavation, there were no dwellings, buildings, household pits, and hearths. However, 10 religious complexes were studied on the site, in the form of a system of ditches of various configurations (ring, rectangular, double ring), 12 objects (stone slabs and layouts, ruins of vessels), which gave reason to call Malaya Sopka a place of worship or a sanctuary. The weakly saturated cultural layer contained tools and products made of stone, bone and bronze. The main part of the finds is represented by ruins and fragments of bronze age ceramics and fragments of cattle bones. The ceramic complex of the site was formed at the turn of the middle and late Bronze age at the base of two different cultural traditions: the local Babino (multi-ribbed) and the newcomer Don-Volga Abashevo culture. The syncretic ceramic complex marks the stage of formation of the early Srubnaya (Timber-grave) culture and supplements the data on the cultural genesis of the middle-late Bronze age with the materials of the cult site.
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9

Vitali, Ilaria. "Abasse Ndione, Mbëkë mi. À l’assaut des vagues de l’Atlantique." Studi Francesi, no. 158 (LIII | II) (July 1, 2009): 449–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/studifrancesi.8102.

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10

Hogarth, Christopher. "A liminal staging of pan-Africanism: Shifts in messages on migration from Abasse Ndione’s Mbëkë mi to Moussa Touré’s La Pirogue." French Cultural Studies 29, no. 1 (January 12, 2018): 28–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957155817738541.

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This article examines the adaptation from book to film of a recent Senegalese tale of clandestine migration by boat. Abasse Ndione’s Mbëkë mi (2008) foregrounds the motivations for migration for Senegalese youth and provokes readers’ sympathy for its migrating characters. It uses a heteroglossic lexicon which is nevertheless anchored in the French language on which the author must rely in order to publish his message. Moussa Touré’s film La Pirogue, by contrast, although sponsored by agents promoting francophonie, includes French and African languages in equal measure. This article examines the ethnic, religious and linguistic differences that the film points up as it represents contemporary migration.
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11

Krier, Theresa M. ""All suddeinly abasht she chaunged hew": Abashedness in "The Faerie Queene"." Modern Philology 84, no. 2 (November 1986): 130–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/391534.

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12

Kacimi, Mourad. "Los Ijwān al-ṣafā’ contra el estado abasí. Acción política en relación con los diversos estados de su época." Al-Qanṭara 40, no. 2 (April 17, 2020): 355. http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/alqantara.2019.011.

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En este artículo se investiga la identidad ideológica de los autores de las Rasā’il Ijwān al-ṣafā’ y cuestiona la posible autoría de las otras obras atribuidas a los Hermanos de la pureza (al-Risāla al-ŷāmi‘a, y la Ŷāmi‘at al-ŷāmi‘a). En base al texto de estas obras de carácter teosófico, se aportan nuevos datos que esclarecen la postura política de los autores en contra del estado abasí, y se precisa su tendencia chií en contra de los califas abasíes de su época. Estos nuevos datos señalan la implicación de los Ijwān al-ṣafā’ en la acción política a través de la predicación del fin del “estado del mal” (dawlat ahl al-šarr) y el comienzo del “estado del bien” (dawlat ahl al-jayr). Se analiza el debate surgido acerca la relación de los Ijwān al-ṣafā’ con diferentes corrientes políticas opositoras al régimen abasí, y su vínculo con estados chiíes (cármatas, buyíes y fatimíes).
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13

Parpola, Asko. "Finnish vatsa ~ Sanskrit vatsá and the formation of Indo-Iranian and Uralic languages." Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja 2017, no. 96 (January 1, 2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.33340/susa.70229.

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Finnish vatsa ‘stomach’ < PFU *vaćća < Proto-Indo-Aryan *vatsá- ‘calf’ < PIE *vet-(e)s-ó- ‘yearling’ contrasts with Finnish vasa- ‘calf’ < Proto-Iranian *vasa- ‘calf’. Indo-Aryan -ts- versus Iranian -s- reflects the divergent development of PIE *-tst- in the Iranian branch (> *-st-, with Greek and Balto-Slavic) and in the Indo-Aryan branch ( > *-tt-, probably due to Uralic substratum). The split of Indo-Iranian can be traced in the archaeological record to the differentiation of the Yamnaya culture in the North Pontic and Volga steppes respectively during the third millennium BCE, due to the use of separate sources of metal: the Iranian branch was dependent on the North Caucasus, while the Indo-Aryan branch was oriented towards the Urals. It is argued that the Abashevo culture of the Mid-Volga-Kama-Belaya basins and the Sejma-Turbino trade network (2200–1900 BCE) were bilingual in Proto-Indo-Aryan and PFU, and introduced the PFU as the basis of West Uralic (Volga-Finnic) into the Netted Ware Culture of the Upper Volga-Oka (1900–200 BCE).
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CASTRO-FERNÁNDEZ, JULIA, INÉS CASTEJÓN-SILVO, PABLO ARECHAVALA-LOPEZ, JORGE TERRADOS, and BEATRIZ MORALES-NIN. "Feeding ecology of pipefish species inhabiting Mediterranean seagrasses." Mediterranean Marine Science, August 18, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/mms.22455.

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Pipefish are a vulnerable and diverse group of ichthyofauna tightly associated to seagrass meadows, key habitats in shallow marine areas. Despite of their charismatic role, main ecological features, habitat and diet of this group remain largely unknown. This study focuses on assessing pipefish habitat and feeding preferences including different hosting seagrasses such as Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa from the Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean. Four species (Syngnathus typhle, S. abaster, Nerophis ophidion and N. maculatus) were found associated to different seagrasses. S. typhle and N. maculatus were more frequent in P. oceanica meadows, while S. abaster and N. ophidion in C. nodosa. Individuals of all species captured in P. oceanica were larger than those living in C. nodosa, suggesting a size-dependent habitat preference. Feeding preferences, however, were driven by prey availability and fish features, e.g head/snout morphology. For the first time in the western Mediterranean, a thorough description of the diet and potential preys of this group was carried out. Epifaunal assemblages (potential prey) were dominated in both habitats by harpacticoid copepods and gammarid amphipods, and they were also the primary preys according to stomach contents of all species. These results can contribute to future pipefish conservation and management actions, such as targeting crucial habitat identification and designing culture and reintroduction protocols.
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Ambade, Sonia V., and Neelima M. Deshpande. "Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Activity of Essential Oil of Cymbopogon citratus against Oral Microflora Associated with Dental Plaque." European Journal of Medicinal Plants, September 2, 2019, 1–11. http://dx.doi.org/10.9734/ejmp/2019/v28i430143.

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Aims: Dental biofilms are complex, multi-species microorganism communities that inhabit the oral cavity in the form of dental plaque which causes dental caries and periodontal diseases. The present study aims to explore the potential of Lemon Grass Essential Oil (LGEO) extracted from Cymbopogon citratus as antimicrobial and antibiofilm agent against the microorganisms responsible for dental plaque. Study Design: Observational and comparison study. Place and Duration of Study: Research centre, Department of Microbiology, Abasaheb Garware college, Pune, India, between Dec 2012 to Jan 2017. Methodology: Three bacterial species primarily responsible for the biofilm formation were isolated from dental plaque and identified using 16S ribosomal RNA sequences. Five most primary colonizer of dental plaque organisms were acquired from the Microbial Type Culture Collection cultures. Antimicrobial as well as antibiofilm activity of LGEO, was determined against these eight biofilm forming microorganism. The antibiofilm activity of LGEO was evaluated against oral flora individually, as well as in consortium. Results: LGEO displayed excellent antimicrobial activity against eight test organisms associated with dental plaque, representing four genera namely Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Lactobacillus and Candida. MIC of LGEO for all test organisms was determined as 1.5% (v/v). The LGEO was found to exhibit as high as 76% biofilm inhibitory activity even in the consortium, where the biofilm formation sometimes has been noted to be comparatively more than that of the individual organism, making LGEO a very promising antibiofilm agent. Conclusion: LGEO present in rampantly grown plant, Cymbopogon citratus, has remarkable antimicrobial and antibiofilm activity against the dental plaque organism and thus can be the economical, convenient, natural and nontoxic herbal material to effectively control the oral microflora associated with dental plaque.
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"Development of Integration Education Model Pela-Gandong Local Based on Local Content in Primary Schools in Ambon City." International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering 8, no. 2S9 (November 2, 2019): 118–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.b1027.0982s919.

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This study aims to develop abased social integration education model Pela-Gandong as a local content formed through the togetherness of life of the brothers based on kinship values and customary institutions in the context of cultural local wisdom in Maluku. The implementation of the development of this model was based on the desire to recognize, maintain and preserve Maluku culture as an ancestral heritage, which had experienced the shock of harmony in the lives of brothers due to the Maluku conflict in 1999-2004, so through Pela-Gandong based social integration education in Maluku it can be used as a cultural instrument in the intellectual life of the nation but also as an effort to maintain the nobility of the values of the nation's own culture. This study uses a research development method (R & D) using collaboration from the learning design model Borg and Gall with the ADDIE model (Analysis-Design-Develop-Implement-Evaluate), which produces based local content learning products Pela-Gandongas a learning resource local contents of the Maluku region that are intended for elementary school students with the theme "Beautiful Togetherness Pela-Gandong", which refers to the 2013 curriculum used in Indonesia. The target of this study was fourth grade students (four) at SD Inpres Latta, Baguala-Ambon District. The results of this study indicate that the development of based social integration education models is Pela-Gandong- very effective to be used by fourth grade elementary school students as a local content of learning which is shown through the effectiveness of learning products using minimum completeness criteria (KKM), so that Pela-Gandong based social integration education is very relevant for fourth grade elementary school students not only as a local content in introducing Maluku culture, but more than that, namely as a cultural instrument that is effective in revitalizing and transforming contextual cultural values based on local wisdom in Maluku
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Farley, Rebecca. "How Do You Play?" M/C Journal 1, no. 5 (December 1, 1998). http://dx.doi.org/10.5204/mcj.1732.

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At a small suburban dinner party, the hostess asks a guest if he would like some more. Bunging on a silly accent, he grunts, "no, look. I couldn't eat another thing, I'm absolutely stuffed." Everyone at the table smiles. The host, who has no ear for accents, says, "oh, go on monsieur, wouldn't you like an after-dinner mint?" Smiles widen. "No. Bugger off," says the first guest. "O go on sir, it's only wafer-thin." "No, no," cry the other guests. "You're supposed to say, 'just one?'" "Sorry," says the host, much abashed. The first guest, however, picks up his cue and says, "oh alright, just one." Then he puts up his hand. "No really," he says, in his normal voice. "Unless you want me to explode." This causes the remaining guests to fall about laughing. "What," wonders the American at the table, aloud, "was that?!" Was it play? Certainly, it bears most of the elements prescribed by Huizinga as characteristic of play. It occurred spontaneously, according to pre-arranged rules which the participants all knew (except the American, but exclusivity too is a characteristic of play). It had a beginning and a clear end. It was not productive but rather was performed for its own sake. That is, it did not perform any work, such as helping to close the meal or providing information, but merely made the players happy. It was accompanied by the requisite feeling of joy and there was an element of tension (getting the script right). Further, the event incorporated two of the social practices which Huizinga identified as amongst the most playful -- performance and ritual. But there are two elements that Huizinga identified as being characteristic of play which do not quite fit the above scenario. Interestingly, they are the two characteristics about which Huizinga is most adamant. The first is the stricture regarding place. Huizinga argues that all play occurs in a specific, often dedicated, playspace. The dining room table, however, is hardly a defined play-space; indeed many mothers would argue it was precisely not a play-space. Perhaps it was a play-space in that the child in the back bedroom was not "playing", while everyone in the dining room was "included". The second question regards Huizinga's assertion that play happens in a "time apart". The performance described above, however, happened during dinner -- again, a time which many would regard as designated "not play-time". Perhaps the little ritual might be regarded as "time apart" -- a diversionary loop in linear time, if you like -- in that it did not progress the course of the meal. Huizinga, of course, wrote as a social philosopher. His work goes on to categorize the play element in cultural activities such as politics, art, music, games, and so on. If it is not limited to sport or the make-believe activities of children, what is play? How is it (if this is not entirely the wrong word) practised? If, for example, we went back to the dinner party, would the people there be able to identify what they had just done as play? Nor do my recollections of work, either as a secretary or later as a postgrad, bear out the complete separate-ness of play which Huizinga proposed. Rather, while the diversionary element is retained, for adults at least, play seems to be largely embedded in the stream of work, often occuring in a workspace, during worktime. Play for adults is a quick game of solitaire while answering a phone enquiry, netsurfing while the photocopier runs, or a bitchy (but fortunately silent) IRC chat with another worker, even in the same office. It is far more like de Certeau's notion of la perruque, though necessarily less productive. Kirsty Leishman's article about working in a convenience store bears out my initial feeling that most people's experience of play -- in their day-to-day lives at least, rather than on holidays (another can of worms entirely) -- consists of playful acts or moments, rather than Huizinga's "acts apart". Play, however, is consistently discursively constructed as the opposite of work. As such, it has a place in our thinking about creativity, but there remains a degree of suspicion with which we regard creative work, and even creative work-places. For example, Pixar, the company who (with Disney) created the computer-animated features Toy Story (1995) and A Bug's Life (1998), is described thus: "at Pixar, Steve Jobs' animation house in nearby Richmond, the mood is quirky and relentlessly upbeat ... . On a typical workday, employees' kids and pets roam the halls. 'Work hard and play hard, and in between time you're flying down the hall on a scooter,' says Pixar's head recruiter, Rachel Hannah." A number of significant elements appear to emerge from this description. The first is the description of Pixar as an animation "house", relating it back to the domestic, the realm of the private, the realm of play (as opposed to the public realm of work). This is underlined by the association with children (who are free to play) and pets (more domesticity -- and of course, what you do with your pet, usually, is to play with it). Working at Pixar (especially compared to work in university admin, or a convenience store) can hardly amount to work at all. It's too much fun. Clearly, in mobilising this kind of discourse, Pixar seeks to enhance its reputation for creativity. In that particular industry, such a discourse has two functions. One is to enhance the "fun" and child-appropriate-ness of the films in a marketing arena. The other, however, disguises the very real, very mundane and very tedious work that actually goes into computer animation (not to mention Disney's well-known corporate bastardry), which, objectively, is far more like factory production than we would like to think. The technology of these productions is always discussed; the work of production is never mentioned. For example, another review of Toy Story claims that rendering the film took "800,000 computer hours", but makes no mention of how many people worked for how long to operate those computers. Thus, descriptions of animation workplaces as playgrounds feed into the "magic" discourses which are traditionally associated with animation. One's first instinct is to disbelieve the above type of description of a workplace as mere "publicity", as a lie constructed to perpetuate the conditions of production. As Smoodin points out, the technological and creative discourses around animation embody one of the "paradoxes of capitalist mythology: industry becomes a wonderland and work turns into fun, while at the same time workers disappear" (96). Academic use of the notion of play picks up on this suspicion, and propagates the discursive division between work and play. Our good leftist assessments of power structures would suggest that there is no room for play in the workplace. There is even less room, presumably, for fun. Fun is a notion fairly effectively erased from academic discourse, as Rutsky has pointed out. Rather, academic use of "play" to describe the structure and nature of texts such as IRC chat, or animated films, turns play into a kind of legitimated "not-work". Unfortunately, it becomes not-fun as well. The problem is that the above descriptions of "work" in an animation studio may be more or less accurate. Certainly, there is a lot of tedious work in animation, but the animation houses I have visited (including Disney Studios in Sydney) are playful places. They do involve loud music, people who dress funny, visiting dogs and an abundance of what can only be described as toys. (Admittedly, some of these 'toys' are very big, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and are produced by Silicon Graphics.) Similarly, my work as an academic pretty well fits Huizinga's definition of play, with the exception, again, of a separateness in time and space (I am, after all, writing at home on a console still Tetris-warm). And, while the kind of play performed by secretaries and convenience-store clerks in their workplaces might be a fairly desultory kind of play, with a somewhat subdued sense of "fun", it is play nonetheless. It seems that the divide between work and play is perhaps less clear in our lived experiences than it is in our writings. The fuzziness of the divide -- and the determination to maintain its existence, if only academically -- is something deserving of further attention. References De Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Trans. Steven Rendall. Berkeley: U of California P, 1984. Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture. 1949. Trans. George Steiner. London: Paladin, 1970. Johnson, Brian D. "Toy Story." Rev. of Toy Story, dir. John Lasseter. Maclean's 11 Dec. 1995: 74. "Mr Creosote Sketch". Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. Dir. Terry Jones. Perf. John Cleese, Terry Jones. Celandine Films, 1983. Rutsky, R. L., and Justin Wyatt. "Serious Pleasures: Cinematic Pleasure and the Notion of Fun." Cinema Journal 30.1 (1990): 3-19. Smoodin, E. Animating Culture: Hollywood Cartoons from the Sound Era. Oxford: Roundhouse, 1993. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Rebecca Farley. "How Do You Play?" M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1.5 (1998). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9812/how.php>. Chicago style: Rebecca Farley, "How Do You Play?," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1, no. 5 (1998), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9812/how.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Rebecca Farley. (1998) How do you play? M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 1(5). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9812/how.php> ([your date of access]).
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