Play and Ritual: Complementary Frames of Meta-Communication

Popular culture and ideological discontents: A theory

“…The various forms of "play" are in fact various degrees of liminality. According to Handelman (1977), play is diametrically opposed to ritual. While play has the quality of doubting the social order, ritual integrates it; whereas ritual validates the social order, play calls it into question.…”

Helping them to help themselves: case study of an integrated popular theatre approach in Africa

“…Don Handelman (1977) has argued that song and dance, like ritual, act as complementary frames of meta-communication. They permit the co-players to forget their social selves and become absorbed in the flow experience of play.…”

‘To be happy’: Ritual, play, and leisure in the Bengali Dharmarāj pūjā

“…Holy play (for example, k~.a khela and agun khela) is performed within a ritual frame of reference, while other forms of ludic behavior not designated as khela are performed outside of it. Although we could classify both Bengali forms of activity as play behavior based on structural features described by play theoreticians such as Handelman (1976) and Manning (1983a: 20-27), they are taxonomically located in separate domains of meaning by Goalpara residents. Khela is serious; ludic behavior is not.…”