Recess Battles: Playing, Fighting, and Storytelling

Contents

CONTENTS Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction Tensions in an Urban American School Yard 3 PART 1. PLAYIN’AND FIGHTIN’ 1. Violence as “The Recess Problem” 17 2. Storytelling and Children’s Battles 27 PART 2. THE PUSH AND PULL OF ADULT CULTURE 3. The Grown-Ups Giveth, the Grown-Ups Taketh Away Misunderstanding Gendered Play 41 4. “Nike, Nike, Who Can Do the Nike?” New Commercialization and Scripted Exploitation 63 5. Restricted Movement in a Scripted World 77 PART 3. PLAY AND CHILDREN’S CULTURE 6. “Work That Body, Oddy, Oddy” Lessons from “Old School” Rhymes 89 7. Keywords of the Playground 115 8. Play and Paradox 127 Conclusion Wrestling with the School Yard 135 Postscript Screaming Culture 141 viii Contents APPENDIXES Games Cited 144 Transcriptions 145 Notes 146 Bibliography 153 Index 164 ...