Gender and territoriality in games played by nine- to twelve-year-old schoolchildren

Taking recent ethnomethodological insights into gender as an ongoing intera ctional accomplishment as a starting point, a research group conducted an e thnographic exploration of the practices of gender differentiation among ni ne- to twelve-year-old schoolchildren in Germany. This article deals with a small segment of these practices: spontaneous territorial games, character ized by a high degree of physical activity in which the children split up i nto gender-homogeneous teams. Based on the detailed analysis of two recess situations, the article explores how gender-defined territories are achieve d interactionally and how gender polarity is thus staged. The concluding pl ay-theoretical reflections in particular show that territorial games simpli fy, alienate, and aestheticize gender arrangements.