Play as Liberatory Practice

Though it is often said in early childhood circles, it bears repeating for all children, youth, and adults: play is a basic human right. 'Basic' suggests something easily accessible, but the reality is far from the ideal. While play has been elevated to the same essential status as nutrition, sleep, and other fundamental needs, society is structured to privilege some and deny others the physical, social, and intellectual dimensions of play. This is not to mention the inner life and sense of self and place within society that play affords us. This issue of TCSE—edited by Templeton, Keenan, Gross, and Fox—highlights long-standing and contemporary threats to children’s play. The authors in this issue present the ways that adults interpret—and at times limit—play for children. Adult interpretations are situated within larger social forces such as settler colonialism, developmentalism, militarization, state violence, and white supremacy, discourses that are no doubt entangled with each other. Juxtaposed with these articles are works produced by children, reminders of what is still possible despite the adult gaze. This issue is one of a double issue; the second (forthcoming) offers more ways forward toward collective liberation through honoring children’s play in its myriad forms.