Ebersohn, Kathleen2012-08-012012-08-012012-08-01http://hdl.handle.net/10539/11727M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2012Discourse on men and masculinities is limited in a crucial way. While literature on masculinities argues that there are many different versions of masculinity and cautions against generalisations, the existing canon has a proclivity to locate research on men within the realms of risk, sex, violence, sport and substance abuse. Literature on coloured men in particular has long since pathologised the coloured male body, often locating studies on coloured men in prisons or gangs and seeking to examine violence, substance abuse and risky behaviour. What of love, trust or intimacy? As important as it is to understand power and violence and the ways they are expressed, researchers need to look at love and intimacy as a crucial way of transforming the ways in which we perceive of masculinities. This study was conducted in Buysdorp, a small rural community in South Africa in 2010. It is largely ethnographic in methodology. I spent five months in the community as a participant observer, living with a family. In addition I conducted interviews with five primary participants who were all male and between the ages of 22 and 37 who resided in the community. Four of five men had spent their formative years in this community. Where possible I chose to speak to the women in these men’s lives – their mothers, sisters and partners. This dissertation will attempt to explore masculinities and coloured identity within Buysdorp examining the ways in which land ownership and history have a remarkable effect on gender, race and one’s sense of belonging. The dissertation also seeks to understand softer versions of masculinity such as love, trust and intimacy by exploring the ways these men love. In so doing, the dissertation will attempt to highlight the complex and often contradictory ways of being a man in Buysdorp where softer versions of masculinity exist side by side with harder versions of masculinity such as violence, substance abuse and riskseeking behaviour.enThesis