Abstract:
This paper adopts a Foucaldian analytical framework to identify emerging discourses that shape the play of under three-year-old children, as described by families, researchers-as-film editors, and children-as-protagonists in play Drawing on video footage, interviews and analysis from the Aotearoa New Zealand contribution to an International Play Project for Organisation Mondiale for l’Education Prescholaire (OMEP) (Samuelson-Pramling & Fleer, in press), the authors argue for a reconstructuralist view of play within the cultural and historical context of society, and suggest that for Aotearoa New Zealand, such a view must Incorporate the aspirations of family, culture and society — beyond the exclusive gaze of professionals.