Metamorphosis: Play, Spirituality and the Animal

Abstract

Animal- and bird-becoming is an aspect of play as metamorphosis connected to spirituality in early childhood settings. The reconceptualisation of play presented here is supported by research that explored the spiritual experiences of young children in different early childhood contexts. Qualitative case study research carried out in Aotearoa New Zealand included children, teachers and families. The concept of ‘everyday spirituality’ that emerged from this inquiry is informed by post-structural philosophical perspectives. Transformative spaces of spiritual withness, the spiritual in-between and the spiritual elsewhere construct everyday spirituality in these settings. Four narratives contribute to a bricolage about play as metamorphosis. This aspect of play challenges human/non-human animal binaries, and celebrates unfixedness and infolding: both features of the spiritual. Deleuzian concepts support the discussion and connections are made to the posthuman(ist) condition.