MILSIM – МЕЖДУ ИГРАТА И ВОЙНАТА И МЕЖДУ ИГРАТА НА ВОЙНА И ИСТОРИЧЕСКИТЕ РЕКОНСТРУКЦИИ
MILSIM – BETWEEN THE GAME AND THE WAR AND BETWEEN THE GAME OF WAR AND THE HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTIONS

Summary/Abstract: The article presents a study of the paramilitary game Milsim (Military Simulations), which has not been under scientific scrutiny by ethnologists and sociologists yet. The research is based on preliminary observations of a group practicing Milsim, on conducted interviews, as well as on observations of the community engaged in Milsim in Bulgaria. The analysis is based on Johan Huizinga's understanding that playing is essentially a cultural phenomenon and a factor in creating culture, that it is related to the law intrinsic to war, that it presupposes the emergence of poetry, it is immanent in all art forms and irrevocable in contemporary culture. The main emphasis in the analysis of the game Milsim is on its characteristics in terms of Roger Caillios’ games classification, as well as on the fact that Milsim is the basis for the formation of lasting communities and social networks. Significant emphasis is placed on the interpretation of the human body and its symbolic disguise, hence on gender. What is important for the article is the comparison of the game Milsim with historical reconstructions, as the comparison is provoked by seemingly similar characteristics possessed by both cultural phenomena: similar forms of leisure time; participation in specific directed games; disguise (as symbolic activity and transvestism) and playing experience; attitude to historical time and time in general; interaction in social networks; presence or absence of empathetic and sanctioning audience, etc.

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