Chapter Five: Power and Intertextuality in Pretend Play
Builds on chapter four’s focus on gender and sexuality but this time analyzing two episodes of pretend play. This new focus again demonstrates tensions of shifting ideologies and the revoicing of indigenous language in unexpected contexts.
Terms:
• Indirect indexicality
• Mimesis
• Intertextuality
Questions for reflection:
1. What kinds of roles and relationships were enacted in the two pretend play episodes, and how were they mediated by the distribution of power? How were multilingual resources and specifically Miskitu used in these enactments?
2. How can play provide a “means of survival” for children living on the margins of society?
3. What can children learn about social inclusion and exclusion and about ideologies of difference through pretend play?
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- Washing doll clothes at play
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- Barbies in attendance at pigeon funeral
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- Real caregiving by a young Miskitu girl
