"Sui" Generis: Mock Violence in an Urban School Yard

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Ann Richman Beresin

Abstract

During a year's field work in an urban working class, racially integrated, public elementary school yard in Pennsylvania, a type of popular children's game emerged that had been underreported in the folk play literature. Mock violent games, among both boys and girls, appeared as hitting, pushing and slamming games, ranging in violence from the overt, although playful, to the covert. The non-violent violent handball game of "Suicide" will be examined in detail in this paper, and it will be argued that the hybridity of the game reflects its paradoxical status as mixt genre and unique cultural marker.

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