Play occupies a central role in notions and practices of leisure. Play is, by definition, purposeless: while being a fuzzy field that comprises a wide variety of acts and patterns of behavior, if it leans too much in the direction of a particular function, it turns into something else. Therefore, it belongs to, or rather sets out for itself, a time and space free from other occupations. ‘Professional player’ is, technically, an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, despite the fact that the social and cultural history of sport and games has allowed for that figure to actually emerge. While the content of this chapter presents an inevitable and, hopefully, desirable overlapping and interaction with that of others, it aims to define sport and games more specifically, in order to map the field of inquiry with respect to the Renaissance.
Sports and games
Arcangeli, Alessandro
2024-01-01
Abstract
Play occupies a central role in notions and practices of leisure. Play is, by definition, purposeless: while being a fuzzy field that comprises a wide variety of acts and patterns of behavior, if it leans too much in the direction of a particular function, it turns into something else. Therefore, it belongs to, or rather sets out for itself, a time and space free from other occupations. ‘Professional player’ is, technically, an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, despite the fact that the social and cultural history of sport and games has allowed for that figure to actually emerge. While the content of this chapter presents an inevitable and, hopefully, desirable overlapping and interaction with that of others, it aims to define sport and games more specifically, in order to map the field of inquiry with respect to the Renaissance.
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