Play and Democracy
The 5th biennial Philosophy at Play conference
The Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
June 24-25, 2019
The fifth biennial Philosophy at Play conference will be hosted by the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague on the 24-25 of June 2019. Like the previous four Philosophy at Play conferences held at the University of Gloucestershire (UK) (https://playandplaywork.com/philosophy-at-play-conference/), the 2019 conference aims at a broad spectrum of scholars, practitioners, and researchers interested in the intersection between philosophy and play. This time, the local organizers encourage participants to reflect especially on the connection between play and democracy.
We invite contributions related (but not limited) to the following questions:
- Play and the nature of democracy: Is democracy inherently playful?
- Play and the rules of democracy: Can we make sense of the rules of democracy through an analysis of the rules of play?
- Play and manipulation: Is play a means of resisting manipulation, or a means of manipulating?
- Play and public space: Is play a socio-political phenomenon?
- Play, social roles and power games in the public space
- Play and performance: What is the relationship between rituals/happenings/public performances and democracy?
- Artistic play and democracy: Do the arts have any impact on public space and democracy? Are the arts inherently democratic?
- Can the arts facilitate/hinder anti-democratic tendencies in a society?
- Children’s play and democracy: What is the relationship between children’s play and democratic values?
- Sport and democracy: Does sport foster democratic values? Is sport inherently democratic?
- Should sport teams be democracies, should coaches be democratic?
- Computer games and democracy: Do computer/video/internet games present a threat to democracy?
- “Queering play” (non-heteronormative sexualities in gaming) and democracy
Submissions
The conference will accommodate presentations of different formats and lengths, including standard conference papers (20 min), performance lectures (20 min), “no paper” talks (20 min), workshops, interviews, public dialogues, discussions and games (20-90 minute slots). Researchers are invited to submit a 150-word abstract, including a brief biography (100 words), indication of a chosen presentation format and a note of any technical requirements. All submissions must be received at pap2019prague@gmail.com by October 30, 2018. Please, ensure that you include your surname as the first word in the file name of the document you send. Please, do not send any additional documents beyond the material requested above. Proposals will be answered by December 30, 2018.