Po co antropologom zabawa? O zabawowych aspektach badań antropologiczno-kulturowych

In this article I try to recognise a possible role of play in contemporary cultural anthropological research. Although the relationships between this fi eld of study and play are by no means new, what is most usually taken into account, is the formative function of play in culture, and this is often analysed only in relation to adults. Here, however, I focus on a different possible perspective: on including a playful element into the very research process. Nowadays, this becomes an important factor, pertaining to the attempts of cultural anthropologists to include children as subjects into the main course of study, as well as to recognise their role as social actors, who also build the society. Theoretical thoughts on research methodology were illustrated with a short example taken from my own and my research team’s study with children belonging to families with a history of infertility.