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Games in Culture

Games in Culture MALCOLM J. ARTH Harvard University ROBERT R. BUSH University of Pennsylvania ECREATIONAL activities have been classic ethnographic concerns, and sophisticated questions about the distributions of games were asked early in the history of anthropology.’ Still, the science has yet to produce a general theory which deals with such anthropological problems as the description and explanation of the historical development of games, their world distribution, and their functional significance in various societies. This paper suggests a line of inquiry which might lead to the construction of such a theory. I n the extensive ethnographic literature on the subject, a wide range of recreational activities has been called “games,” but this general category is too broad for the purposes of this article. Here, a game is defined as a recreational activity characterized by: (1) organized play, (2) competition, (3) two or more sides, (4)criteria for determining the winner, and (5) agreed-upon rules. Other recreational activities which do not satisfy this definition, such as noncompetitive swimming, top-spinning, and string-figure making, are considered “amusements.” It is relevant to note that most games reported in the ethnographies are activities in which adults can participate. The games of the world may be classified in http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png American Anthropologist Wiley

Games in Culture

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References (9)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
1959 American Anthropological Association
ISSN
0002-7294
eISSN
1548-1433
DOI
10.1525/aa.1959.61.4.02a00050
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

MALCOLM J. ARTH Harvard University ROBERT R. BUSH University of Pennsylvania ECREATIONAL activities have been classic ethnographic concerns, and sophisticated questions about the distributions of games were asked early in the history of anthropology.’ Still, the science has yet to produce a general theory which deals with such anthropological problems as the description and explanation of the historical development of games, their world distribution, and their functional significance in various societies. This paper suggests a line of inquiry which might lead to the construction of such a theory. I n the extensive ethnographic literature on the subject, a wide range of recreational activities has been called “games,” but this general category is too broad for the purposes of this article. Here, a game is defined as a recreational activity characterized by: (1) organized play, (2) competition, (3) two or more sides, (4)criteria for determining the winner, and (5) agreed-upon rules. Other recreational activities which do not satisfy this definition, such as noncompetitive swimming, top-spinning, and string-figure making, are considered “amusements.” It is relevant to note that most games reported in the ethnographies are activities in which adults can participate. The games of the world may be classified in

Journal

American Anthropologist – Wiley

Published: Aug 1, 1959

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