Browsing by Author "Punt, Jacques"

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    Pumping iron at Frankie’s
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-03) Punt, Jacques; Du Plessis, Jacob; Pattman, Robert; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The events and analysis prompting this study play out in a weight training gym in the Rusthof neighbourhood in Strand, Western Cape. Itis called Frankie’s Gym and originated to help deal with social issues in the neighbourhood, especially because of gangs and gang-related activities that are high in this neighbourhood. Frankie’s Gym (FG) focuses on influencing young men so that they do not get involved with gangs. The main research questions that drove this study were how FG can deal with the challenges that face the Rusthof community; what community means in the social environment of FG; and, how people at FG identify and perform gender. This study looked specifically at theoretical concepts like the gym as a sports-based intervention, community building, and masculinity(-ies). At FG there is a complex interplay of construction of community and masculinity(-ies). These two concepts seem to work in tandem in order to construct a social network and community, based around helping and caring for one another. In this way, FG and the people involved in it can influence their clientele to live a life away from the “bad stuff” in the neighbourhood –like gangs. Critically however, there are limitations to this. For one, people drop out of the gym and may start engaging with drugs and gangs, possibly finding it difficult to maintain a commitment to FG. Additionally, the focus on weight lifting can contribute to a version of being male which idealises toughness over sensitivity, although many of the young men with whom I engaged seemed to be committed to an ethic of care which they learnt and was exemplified in the gym. Lastly, the effectiveness of the intervention seems to depend to some extent on the role Frankie plays as a model of a caring, sensitive, compassionate, sociable and creative man, and this raises the question of who can replace Frankie when he retires (he is currently in his 70s) and continue the work with FG in the community. This is an ethnographic study and participant observation was the main research method. This provided rich data that was supplemented by a semi-structured interview with the owner Frank Hendricks. Applied thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.