The Lifework and Legacy of Iona and Peter Opie

Research into Children's Play

Julia C. Bishop, June Factor

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780429941184
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: R&D
• Index: Business

Iona and Peter Opie were twentieth-century pioneers. Their research and writing focused on the folklore of British children – their games, rhymes, riddles, secret languages and every variety of the traditions and inventions of the children's collective physical and verbal play. Such closely observed, respectful, good-humoured and historically attuned writing about the traditions of childhood was a revelation to English-language readers around the world. Their numerous books were a rare phenomenon: they attracted a popular readership far beyond the professional and academic communities. For those who work with children, their collaborative research was a powerful influence in confirming the immense capacities of the young for cooperation, conservation, invention and imagination. Their books challenged – then and now – the bleak and limited view of children which focuses on their smallness, ignorance and powerlessness.

The writers in this volume pay their tribute to the Opies by exploring a wonderfully varied topography of children's play, from different countries and different perspectives. Their research is vivid and challenging; that is, as it should be, in the tradition of the Opies.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Play.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction
• 1 What is the state of play?
• 2 A lifetime in the playground (inaugural address to ‘The State of Play’ conference, University of Sheffield, 1998)
• 3 The making of folklore books: chiefly the experiences of the Revd. John Brand and the Opies
• 4 The lives and legacies of Iona and Peter Opie
• 5 Colleagues in the Antipodes: conversations with Iona and Peter Opie
• 6 The lore and law of the playground
• 7 From local to global: the evolution of musical play in secondary schools
• 8 From the wild frontier of Davy Crockett to the wintery fiords of Frozen: changes in media consumption, play and literacy from the 1950s to the 2010s
• 9 Meeting in the Middle East: Iona and Peter Opie’s contribution to co-existence education
• 10 Child play is serious: children’s games, verbal art and survival in Africa
• Memories of and Reflections about the Opies and their Work
• 17 Books worth (re)reading
• Index