The Social World and Play Life of Thai Muslim Adolescents

Abstract

FOLKLORE AND PLAY STUDIES Folklore is being increasingly recognized as a promising area of investigation into several facets of human behavior and culture. For example, the folklore genre of studied within the context of adolescent development and adolescent culture, is contributing to an understanding of adolescents' social life, their social behavior (Allison 1981; Anderson and Condon 1984), and, as playing involves interactions between players, their interpersonal relations. Also, since male adolescents' interactions in play can be studied in comparison to those of female adolescents, and the settings where males and females interact with each other in play can be unobtrusively observed, the issues of sex differences and cross-sex interactions can be pursued. The analysis of the play life and the processes by which adolescents' social life in general evolves on Nipa Island, southwestern Thailand, is an example of such a study.' The findings represent a combination of folkloristic, anthropological, and developmental approaches. Specific research methods employed, both qualitative and quantitative, are stressed to show the close relationship between research methods and results that is inherent in any study of this type. As a starting point on the study of Nipa Island adolescents' play life and social behavior, it is necessary to discuss the definition of the terms: play, game, and sport. Combining the definitions of Huizinga (1950) and Caillois (1961), games are defined here as free and spontaneous activities; game players have the freedom of choice to play or not to play if he/she does not feel like participating. In sports, the athletes have no such choice once the date and the time of the com-