ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing remarks on the preceding chapters of the book. The book was furnished as a contribution to our knowledge of the ways in which pretend play opens a unique window onto the imaginal life of Huli children. The meanings of play are never limited by or to the behaviour itself. As the body (tingi) materialises pretending (tingi), so the hand (gi(ni)) is the metonymic instrument with which play (gini) is exercised. Pretence, as embodied voice, mediates then between mimesis and mythos, just as the hand manages the transition between the playing (gini) self, and the self as played out, as realising a ‘commensurate’ (gini) state of alignment. The author is concerned in the book to etch what children understand about their own fantasy play, how this becomes a resource in their playing, and more broadly how this behaviour is experienced.
