Exploring of Emergent Dramatic Play from a Perspective of Posthuman Children

The purpose of this study is to examine through expressive theatrical play that children are rich posthuman beings. This study utilized participatory observation and a posthumanist approach, drawing on van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological analysis method. The study was conducted at Y Kindergarten in Busan, focusing on one class of four-year-old children, from early October 2022 to the end of January 2023, with observations conducted four to five days a week, approximately from 9:00 to 13:00, totaling 70 sessions. The research findings and their significance can be summarized as follows. First, as posthuman beings, young children initiate dramatic play from the arrangement of materials, and in their dramatic play, various theatrical elements such as stories, props, characters, and backgrounds are enacted and manifested. Second, as posthuman beings, young children experience heightened dramatic experiences within their dramatic play, and their unique characteristics are expressed.Third, as posthuman beings, young children establish relationships with materials within their environment. This study is significant in that it views infants as posthuman beings and examines the emergent nature of infant existence revealed in expressive theatrical play. In the future, it is hoped that children will be recognized as posthumans in early childhood education and that expressive theatrical play will be actively carried out.