North African Toys and Play in an Intercultural Context

Anti-Atlas, Southwest Moroco

Jean-Pierre Rossie
 PowerPoint presentation for

Play, Toys and Intercultural Early Childhood Education

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees

Play, Education, Toys and Languages (PETaL)

Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey

16 March 2021
 research fields

fieldwork in the Tunisian Sahara, 1975 and 1977

among the semi-nomadic Ghrib, 1975

from the study of socialization to research on toys and play

Tunisian Sahara, 1975

fieldwork in Morocco 1992 - today

urbanized village, Anti-Atlas, 2008

rural and urban regions in Morocco

High Atlas
1992

Sidi Ifni
2007
 socializing into the adult female world

playing the wedding feast

two-year-old girl’s self-made doll

Anti-Atlas, 2006

Anti-Atlas, 2002
girls’ interpretation of local customs

Anti-Atlas, 2006
dinner and household play in the open air

High Atlas, 1997

modeling clay and making household utensils

Pre-Sahara, Morocco, 2005

socializing into the adult male world

Sidi Ifni, Morocco, 2005

playing to be the photographer playing to be an old man

Tunisian Sahara, 1975

 boy with garage and truck or exploring sand and box

High Atlas, 1999 Sidi Ifni, 2012

cooperation between young children

Anti-Atlas, 2005

Tunisian Sahara, 1975

the importance of playgroups

Anti-Atlas, 2009
Mixed playgroup with real cooperation between girls and boys

Anti-Atlas, 2007
 older girls playfully caring for small children

Tunisian Sahara 1975 Pre-Sahara 1994

Anti-Atlas 2009 and Tiznit 2006

evolution of Anti-Atlas children’s play and toys, 2005-2006
using new material

Anti-Atlas, 2006-2007
 playful relations between adults and toddlers

Tunisian Sahara, 1975

 from research to pedagogical and sociocultural applications
intercultural project in a Belgian pre-school based on play in the Tunisian Sahara

 showing a short series of slides referring to:

 the Ghrib children’s desert and oasis environment and
 its interpretation in Ghrib children’s play and toy making activities

Tunisian Sahara
1975
  stimulating a discussion with five-year-old Flemish children about:
 what they would like and dislike when being a Ghrib child
 what they like and dislike as a child living in Ghent

Tunisian Sahara
1975
  creative activities inspired by Ghrib children’s lives:
 building an oasis village
 creating desert animals
 verbal, motor and musical expression

Ghent, Belgium
1989
 creativity workshops for children in consumption and high-tech societies
based on Moroccan children’s toy making activities

Nafplion, Greece, July 2008

 Greek children creating masks

Museum of Childhood Stathmos, Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation

masks and dolls made by young Greek girls and boys
Italian children create masks and dolls inspired by Moroccan children’s toys

city library Biblioteca delle Oblate, Florence, June 2009

Florence: city of the future and future of the city
October 2009, Italy

Festival de la Creativitá, Florence, October 2009

  promoting in urban Argentina interest for
children’s toys made with waste material

primary school 1, first year, Neuquén, November 2010

 stimulating to reflect on the universality and diversity of children’s culture
and its utility for pedagogical purposes

Instituto de Formación Docente, Bariloche, Argentina, October 2010

Instituto de Formación Docente, Bariloche, Argentina, October 2010
 teacher training program
Universidad Catolica de Salta, Neuquén, Argentina, November 2010
 using African children’s toy and play heritages for
intercultural purposes and offering a more positive image of these children

workshop for using natural and waste material

preschool teachers in training, Brussels, Belgium, 2016
  using non-western children’s toy and play heritages
for intercultural and global education

Ashura
a children’s feast in Morocco
PowerPoint presentation and texts prepared
for a project in Global Education of the
Humanities Education Centre, London

2008

Text: https://www.academia.edu/9720271

PowerPoint: https://www.academia.edu/9720404
Unesco publication 1984
Survey of some Saharan and North African Games
followed by a discussion of

The role of anthropological research on play:

Play as a source of insight into the child and the society
Play, education and child welfare

publication available on
https://www.academia.edu/6536206
  stimulating interest in children’s culture in Morocco
cultural week on Moroccan toys and play
in a youth house in Safi, a Moroccan coastal city, 2009

Safi children discovering self-made toys

seminar on Moroccan self-made toys for
members of a Safi youth group
Safi children learning from an adolescent how to make a local kite
stimulating parents to play with their motor handicapped children
by using traditional toys and games of skill

Safi, December 2009

Moroccan children’s self-made toys donated to the Centro per la Cultura Ludica
and the exposition Children’s Dreams, Torino, November 2010
creativity workshop natural and waste material, Ravenna, Italy, 2011
family workshop in the Toy Museum of Moirans-en-Montagne, France

October 2014
 Higher School of Education, Institute Polytechnic of Lisbon

Portugal, 2019 preschool teacher

training
 basic information on the
development, socialization, and education
of girls and boys in countries around the world

can be found on the website of the

Bernard van Leer Foundation

https://bernardvanleer.org

J.-P. Rossie publications and powerpoints are available on

https://ucp.academia.edu/JeanPierreRossie

can be used free of copyright for pedagogical and sociocultural purposes

 A few Tunisian Saharan and Moroccan small children’s games of skill

Tunisian Sahara, 1975

Coastal Morocco, 1993 Anti-Atlas, 2017