Acrobats: Building pyramids for their future By: Véronique Sprenger
Master Thesis International Development Studies Graduate School of Social Sciences July, 2018 University of Amsterdam Graduate School of Social Sciences MSc. International Development Studies Master Thesis1
Acrobats: Building pyramids for their future
What are skills that youth in Kangemi, Nairobi develop through acrobat training and how do these translate into capital that they can use in their lives?
In the past there has been little research on projects that empower youth in slums through sports or performing arts. Therefore, the aim of this research is to show how youth from slums who train in acrobatics have developed skills that can help them overcome difficulties such as, unemployment and poor education. These skills will then be translated into capital that the acrobats use in their lives. These skills will be derived from one of the unique aspects of acrobatics which is that it is both a sport and a performing art. The research aims to contribute to international development research by researching a unique and local phenomenon that still has potential to be developed. The answers to the research question were obtained through qualitative analysis focusing on participant observation and interviews. The findings will show that through acrobatic training the acrobats do not only gain economic capital, but also develop skills that accumulate cultural, social, symbolic and physical capital.
Some of the skills that will stand out from the research are physical strength, communication, showmanship and perseverance. Another highlight of the research is the international work opportunities that the acrobats are able to obtain. Moreover, due to strong trust relationships between acrobats, the research will demonstrate how the sport is used for inter-cultural understanding and raising awareness. The research will go on to show how all types of capital are interdependent. It will then endeavor to conclude that acrobatics has the potential to be a powerful tool for youth to not only gain economic capital but to also accumulate other types of capital that they can use in life. Although, the conclusion will also show that there are limits to this accumulation. Since artisan jobs have not been thoroughly researched, the research suggests that further research should be conducted. Furthermore, due to the lack of research on gender dimensions within acrobatics in Nairobi, this should also be further investigated.
Key words: sport and theatre for development, urban development, slums, artisan jobs, youth, capital
July, 2018 Veronique Sprenger/11669802 Supervisor: Dennis Rodgers Second reader: Naomi van Stapele Word count: 28.875 words
1 To see how the pyramid on the cover page was build click here or scan the QR code
1 This thesis is dedicated to the incredibly talented and hardworking acrobats from Nairobi who were part of this journey. They did not only welcome me with open arms but also showed me their world and allowed me to train with them. Their training and stories inspired me to write this thesis and confirmed why it is so important to shed light on their world and talents. This journey confirmed the importance of nurturing talents and using them to create a better future. This research is for the acrobats and I hope that all their dreams and goals will become a reality.
“When it comes to talent development, it becomes very difficult to get that recognition. Yes, you can go to Kenyatta University and study arts, but our people could not go there. So those are changes I would really like to see.” – Marion, Sarakasi
2 Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Dennis Rodgers. I was extremely lucky to have received his support, advice and help throughout this process. He did not only provide me with the confidence to pursue this, but also continuously directed me to the right sources that perfectly complemented my research. Without his patience, positive feedback and creative open-mindedness this thesis would not have been possible. Thank you for your trust! I would also like to thank my second reader Naomi van Stapele for her enthusiasm to read my thesis. I want to thank my classmate and friend who was also doing her research in Nairobi: Saana Mirala. She quite literally saved me when I was in trouble in the field and offered me a roof over my head in a safe area for the last two weeks of my research. Her support was of immeasurable value. Throughout the writing process I have had support from various sources but most importantly from my proof-reader, advisor and good friend Solomon Mwanjala. He has helped me to make sense of my sometimes-unstructured thoughts that I attempted to write down. As he is from Kenya and lives in Nairobi, he was always able to answer my questions regarding local problems that acrobats mentioned in their interviews which I did not understand. Moreover, I cannot thank him enough for the emotional support he offered after I returned from the field. Without my family’s support I would not have been able to do this research, they were there for me when I needed to complain or when I wanted to share exciting stories. They trusted me and the people who I was surrounded with. Lieve Papa, Mama, Brigitte, Michele en Christiaan, ik hoop dat na het lezen van mijn scriptie jullie vrede hebben met alle stress en angst die ik jullie heb aangedaan toen ik mijn onderzoek deed. Ik hou van jullie! Finally, I want to thank the acrobats and the locals who provided me access to the field. Harrison, Jack, Abu, Geoff, Duncan, Mato, Bisshop, Sheban, James, Charles, Ali, Bruce, Juma, Julius, Sammy, Dennis, Bonny, Issa and all the other acrobats in Nairobi who I got to know. Everyone is a part of this thesis and has helped me to realize my dream of combining my talent in gymnastics, passion for the acrobats and my education into this thesis. Asante Sana!
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Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...... 3 Overview of video’s ...... 6 Chapter 1: Introduction...... 7 Relevance ...... 8 Context ...... 9 Unemployment ...... 10 Youth’s aspirations ...... 11 Sports and development ...... 12 Gender ...... 13 Research Aim ...... 14 Outline of thesis ...... 14 Chapter 2: Theoretical framework ...... 15 Acrobatics; a sport or an art? ...... 15 Performing arts skills...... 16 Sports skills ...... 17 Team work leading to collective efficacy ...... 19 Capital ...... 20 Economic capital ...... 21 Cultural capital ...... 21 Social Capital ...... 22 Symbolic Capital ...... 22 Physical capital ...... 23 Trajectories...... 24 Conclusion ...... 25 Chapter 3: Research Design ...... 27 Research Question and sub-questions ...... 27 Conceptual Scheme and Operationalization ...... 27 Research Location ...... 32 Research Methodology ...... 33 Unit of analysis ...... 33 Data collection methods ...... 34 Participant observation, field notes and audio-visual data collection ...... 35 In-depth interviews ...... 36 Limitations and methodological reflection ...... 37 Gender ...... 38 Trustworthiness ...... 38
4 Authenticity ...... 39 Ethical considerations ...... 40 Chapter 4: Get to know the acrobats ...... 42 Introducing Sarakasi...... 44 Life style ...... 45 Unique life opportunities ...... 48 Travelling ...... 50 Conclusion ...... 51 Chapter 5: Capital ...... 53 Economic capital ...... 53 Mato: A team never lets you fall ...... 56 Sammy: Think big ...... 57 Cultural capital ...... 60 Communication ...... 60 Skills...... 62 James: Chasing the wow-factor ...... 64 Bruce: Teaching the new generation ...... 65 Social capital ...... 67 Social control and help through team work ...... 67 Fighting tribalism by setting an example ...... 69 Sammy: Unexpected opportunities through a network ...... 70 Issa: Finding a home ...... 71 Symbolic capital ...... 73 Bruce: Forever young ...... 74 Dennis: Getting a passport in a corrupt country ...... 75 Physical capital ...... 77 Bruce: An injury can’t stop me ...... 79 Bonny: Utilizing his strengths ...... 80 Conclusion ...... 83 Chapter 6: Final Conclusion ...... 85 Bibliography ...... 89 Appendix A: Overview of the interviews ...... 91
5 Overview of video’s
• 28/02/2018 Video 1: Cover page pyramid
• 23/03/1028 Video 2: Breaking the “morale”
• 23/03/2018 Video 3: Hard work as a team
• 25/03/2018 Video 4: Improvised performance
• 19/03/2018 Video 5: High “morale”
• 19/03/2018 Video 6: Balance and synchronization in pyramids
• 20/03/2018 Video 7: Using “soh” for safety
• 09/03/2018 Video 8: The wow-factor
• 23/02/2018 Video 9: Creativity in smaller groups
• 23/03/2018 Video 10: Dangerous chair-balancing act
6 “My dream was to travel… So, I think it is starting to come true, because I travel. Though you know, you can’t just… even if you are a baby, you know a baby is born small, either a boy or a girl, it cannot just stand up and walk, the baby must start with crawling; with one step, two steps, moving step by step and then it comes to a time, maybe it can run. So, I think it’s… the first time I travel, the second time I travel, it’s something that shows something good is coming, so it’s just step by step, it’s coming step by step” – Julius, Acrobat
Chapter 1: Introduction
It was June 2016 when I was first introduced to a group of acrobats in Nairobi, Kenya. My entire life I have been practicing gymnastics at a high level and now I was at the start of an internship with a performing arts organization called: YADEN East-Africa. The group consisted of fourteen Kenyan youth between the ages of fourteen and twenty-five who were living and training in a slum. In the weeks that followed, I developed a strong connection with these acrobats that resulted in an incredible trust relationship. We trained together every day and often performed shows which provided them with a source of income. I was thrown into a world where training circumstances were difficult and dangerous, as there were no safety mats to cushion falls and not much food or water. Despite these challenging circumstances, I noticed that the youth were extremely passionate about acrobatics, loved giving shows, and developed their personality through their passion. They had truly empowered themselves and found a way to survive by following their passion and developing their talent. Acrobatics did not only provide them with monetary gain, but through my observation, it also gave them strength, motivation and courage that would help them further on in life. Now, a year and a half later, I returned to Nairobi and joined another group of acrobats between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five training in the Kangemi slum. They took me on a journey that taught me about the skills they develop through their training and they shared their individual experiences through their life stories. The result of this journey is this research which aims to find out how their skills can be translated into capital and how that capital can be used in their lives.
7 Relevance In this research I chose to focus on an alternative form of employment that can enable youth to rise out of poverty and simultaneously develop certain skills. In the past, there has been little research on projects or initiatives that empower youth in slums through sports or theatre. Furthermore, there has also been a lack of research on the effects of “theatre for development” and “sport for development”. This is because these types of projects have mainly used a top-down approach and as a result the research produced focusses on top-down projects. A top down approach is a method that is conducted by outside agents and does not allow for the community to give input on what they need (Kidd, 2008). On the other hand, a bottom-up approach considers the resources available and assesses the needs of the local population (Stöhr, 1980). This research aims to be different by not only focusing on a bottom-up, self-empowering approach, but by also touching upon a very unique engine of development that benefits both the individual and the collective. Moreover, it will exploit the fact that acrobatics is neither a sport nor a performing art, but a combination of both, which leads to the development of skills from both sides. Much of the research that has been conducted has focused on either theatre or sports and failed to look at a combination of both. I believe, this has been a consequence of Western researchers perceiving them as two different entities. By creating this research from a local community participatory perspective, the research seeks to be more independent of the western context. It aims to contribute to international development research by researching a unique and local phenomenon that still has a lot of developmental potential. Finally, it strives to contribute to the literature on sport and youth unemployment in slums and to add to international development debates regarding urban and slum development, informal employment and poverty elevation.
8 Context
“After the confusion of the education2, I got friends. The friends introduced me to practice halls because I was idle. I didn’t go to school, I didn’t have work to do and I was just idle. My friends would go and do acrobatics and go to school so then I came to see a performance and got interested to join acrobats” – Ali, Acrobat
The documentation of my research and journey with the acrobats started in a slum called Kangemi. This slum is located on the west-side of Nairobi which is typically seen as the more affluent side of the city. On the southern end of Kangemi borders another slum called Kawangware. Over 200.0003 people live in Kangemi in very difficult circumstances (Upendo OVC Program, 2017). These circumstances are best described in the UN-HABITAT definition of a slum which states that: slums are set in urban areas with a typical household comprising of a group of people living with a lack of durable housing which can protect against extreme climate conditions. There is a lack of space –meaning that more than three people share a single room–, and insufficient access to safe water causing poor sanitation. Furthermore, they lack security of tenure meaning that they can be evicted (UN-Habitat, 2006). Rural-to-urban migration which leads to growing urban populations in countries with weak economies, has been described as one of the major catalysts to the creation of slums (Kabiru, et al, 2013). The result of this is extreme inequality and poverty which was visible in the slum where I conducted my research. Generally, poverty should be seen as a multidimensional problem. There is not just a “lack of means” but also a lack of resources. This causes people living in poverty to miss out on human development opportunities that are usually provided or subsidized by the government, such as good education and healthcare (Yoshikawa, et al, 2012). Consequently, many slum dwellers get stuck in a vicious cycle known as the poverty trap (Kabeer, 2015: 196). The poverty trap is a self- enforcing system or negative spiral that renders people from getting out of poverty. It is a
2 There was no money for him to go to high school, so he only did primary school
3 As Kangemi is a slum, it is difficult to know exactly how many people live there, various sources give different numbers. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics for example has Kangemi at just over 80.000 inhabitants however as more sources got closer to 150.000-200.000 I decided to use this specific source.
9 complex issue in development studies due to the difficulty faced when trying to get people out of the poverty trap without making them dependent on the help that they received (Economic Times, 2018). There has been a lot of research on the effects of poverty on youth; an example of this is research by Yoshikawa, et al. (2012) which looked into the mental, emotional and behavioral effects of poverty in the United States. Despite the differences between the US and Kenya, a lot of the effects they found can be universally reflected on youth growing up in slums (Yoshikawa, et al, 2012). Their research showed that poverty impacts youth’s health and nutrition, cognitive development and school results negatively (Yoshikawa, et al, 2012). Moreover, poverty has also been linked to higher depression and suicide rates (Yoshikawa, et al, 2012). Another significant finding of their research is that family poverty as well as neighborhood poverty have negative influences on the youth’s mental, emotional and behavioral health (Yoshikawa, et al, 2012: 280). The research identified that neighborhood poverty has less of an influence than family poverty; however for slums where neighborhood poverty is prevalent is can be argued it has a bigger impact on the youth’s health. Yet, it should not be forgotten that the realities of the youth I worked with are very difficult to understand for someone coming from a privileged background. In theory I can attempt to understand their context, but I am fully aware that in practice I will never be able to truly comprehend it. Therefore, the following section will attempt to further discover challenges that youth living in poverty face and look at how these could influence their aspirations. Being aware of this will help create a narrative that understands their lives and possible struggles better. This could allow for a more open-minded outlook on their life decisions.
Unemployment One of the main difficulties for youth living in slums is unemployment which leads to extreme boredom. It is therefore essential to understand how this influences their lives. According to a recent analysis, the youth unemployment rate in Kenya is a staggering 22.1% (The statistics portal, 2017) compared to the 7% in the Netherlands (Trading economics, 2017). Research has shown that some of the ramifications of unemployment are increased crime rates
10 and violence (Thieme, 2010). Other issues that have been identified are: severe violence and homicide, sexual harassment and rape, diseases such as HIV/AIDS, police harassment and the inability to finish school (Yoshikawa, et al, 2012). These issues are prevalent in Kenya and the government has tried to tackle this problem through initiatives such as the Kazi kwa Vijana (work for youth) program. Unfortunately, youth in Kenya have not perceived these programs as being successful due to issues such as: corruption, lack of accountability, delayed payments, manual labor with low wages and no training for new skills (Thieme, 2010). This shows that providing jobs is not enough and a supplementing approach is necessary to tackle the youth unemployment issue. This is where the informal economy and jobs in performing arts can be a potential tool for combatting this problem. An argument favoring this is the low barriers to entry for such jobs which do not necessarily require an education. Providing a good education infrastructure is a challenge for many governments that face economic instability and as a consequence, many youths in slums struggle to fulfil their educational aspirations (Kabiru, et al, 2013). As the research of Kabiru, et al. shows; youth do consider education to be important but due to financial constraints and lacking job prospects, they believe it does not add much value (Kabiru, et al, 2013). Consequently, youth are more likely to pause their education in order to start a career that allows them to earn money which can be used to finance their education later on (Kabiru, et al, 2013). As a result, youth are more likely to develop creative aspirations and focus on artisan jobs, instead of paying and following their higher education which does not guarantee job security (Kabiru, et al., 2013).
Youth’s aspirations It is easy to think that living and growing up in a slum is discouraging to the youth and stops them from dreaming of a better future. Knowing whether this is true or not is imperative to constructing a perspective on the extent to which youth fight for what they need in order to pull themselves out of their situations. It also helps to understand the motivation behind the acrobat’s choice of labor. Research by Kabiru, et al. shows that youth in slums adjust their aspirations to their realities in order to make them feasible. As anywhere in the world, it does not matter how
11 difficult one’s situation is; people are still concerned with their future jobs, living space, love life and possible family (Kabiru, et al., 2013). The analysis shows that more than 75% of the youth that participated in the research have high aspirations regarding wishes to own a home, having a good job, and to take care of their elders (Kabiru, et al., 2013, 89). However, due to limited opportunities, a lot of the participants in this research said that their career aspirations were more related to craft and artisan jobs, owning a small business or being a hairdresser or mechanic (Thieme, 2010). This shows the importance of alternative ways of employment and the ability to be entrepreneurial and creative for their survival (Thieme, 2010). Appadurai put this nicely into words in the value of culture for survival when he stated: “It is in culture that ideas of the future, as much as of those about the past, are embedded and nurtured” (Appadurai, 2004: 29). A greater focus on culture, grassroots movements and empowerment through creative skills is desirable for youth to enable them to get out of poverty. Moreover, as Yoshikawa et al.’s research shows, interventions of poverty that are long term, stable and intensive are more likely to succeed (Yoshikawa, et al., 2012). A way in which this culture aspect can be used for development is through sports and especially through acrobatics where traditional dance and cultural pride are often showcased in performances.
Sports and development The acrobats embody this value of culture for survival through their creative, informal work. They showcase how sports and performing arts can be used as a tool for development. Sport can be used in development to create unification and to develop certain characteristics and traits (Levermore, 2008). Sport for development is a fairly new concept that has very little supportive research. However, as sport for development has garnered more popularity over time a problem has been identified: despite receiving a lot of money from donors, programs that were mainly set up by developed countries in developing countries did not have an impact on the communities that participated in them (Kidd, 2008). As a result of this, an increasing amount of international organizations have started to use sports to reach specific areas and communities in developing countries that would otherwise be difficult to reach (Levermore, 2008). Sport and physical activities are even recognized as human
12 rights by the UN through its Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other charters and conventions (Kidd, 2008). In spite of this, a lot of organizations struggle with implementing sports programs because they lack a proven track record even though they show great potential (Levermore, 2008). The value of sports as a development tool is underestimated and though organizations do use it, they focus on a top-down approach. Nevertheless, it has been proven that the most effective development comes from bottom-up approaches that consider available resources and the assessment of needs of the local population (Kidd, 2008).
Gender An aspect that stands out in this research is the fact that only male acrobats took part. Unfortunately, there are not many female acrobats in Nairobi and it was therefore not possible for them to be included in this research. I am very much interested in finding out why there are fewer female acrobats in Nairobi, but due to the short timespan I had, sadly I was unable to research this. Though, to speculate on this; as acrobatics is perceived as a very physical sport for which lots of strength is required, it might not be as approachable for women. Especially in Kenya, where certain gender relations, norms and practices are in place, the lack of women in acrobatics reflects these broader societal gender norms (Gatwiri & Mumbi, 2016). These norms are likely magnified in male dominated teams, making joining a team as a woman even harder and more intimidating. Personally, I believe women are perfectly capable of doing the same acrobatics skills that the men do. Though, during my training with the acrobats I did also experience the gender norms that are in place and was able to compare these to my western perspective and see how they can limit or scare women away from joining acrobatics. I would have liked to further elaborate on this, but I had to choose what to focus on in this thesis and I chose to focus on the benefits that acrobatics can bring to the acrobats. As the methodology will show, I am aware of this shortcoming to the research. I would highly encourage exploring this aspect of acrobatics further in future research.
13 Research Aim The aim of this research is to show how youth training acrobatics within the Kangemi slum have overcome difficulties such as unemployment and lack of education, through self-created informal artisan jobs. It strives to show what skills youth have gained from being acrobats and how their approach to sports and performing arts has allowed them to gain different types of capital that have shaped their lives. This research, using the alternative bottom-up approach will stand in stark contrast with the top-down approach that has been implemented by organizations.
Outline of thesis This thesis contains six chapters in which the first has introduced the research topic, its relevance and its context. Chapter two outlines the theory behind the research focusing on skills obtained from participating in acrobatics and sports, collective efficacy related to the team setting of acrobatics and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory on capital. Chapter three showcases the research questions, conceptual scheme and limitations as well as ethical considerations. Chapters four and five present, analyze and discuss the findings from the field. Chapter four introduces the acrobats and reveals the opportunities they have earned through acrobatics. Chapter five shows through the acrobat’s personal stories, how the skills obtained from training have helped them to accumulate the different types of capital. These chapters also include some audio-visual representations which can be watched through the links or QR codes. Chapter six will give a final conclusion in which the limitations to accumulation of capital are also discussed.
14 Chapter 2: Theoretical framework
As stated in the introduction and research question, this thesis will look at the skills acrobats develop in their training and how these skills translate into capital that can be used in their lives. It will begin by analyzing the difference between sports and performing arts and how that can affect the way acrobatics is perceived. Thereafter, past research will be reviewed to identify skills that are gained through participating in performing arts and sports. Given that performing arts and sports are team-oriented activities, I will discuss how being in a group influences both the collective agency and the individuals’ skill acquisition. Once these skills have been identified, the thesis will highlight the different types of capital with reference to Bourdieu’s theory and introduce physical capital based on Loic Wacquant’s Body and Soul. Finally, there will be a paragraph on how trajectories affect people’s habitus, life style and opportunities.
Acrobatics; a sport or an art? In order to understand what types of skills are developed through acrobatics I first need to establish whether acrobatics is an art or a sport. As stated earlier, sport and art tend to be perceived as two separate entities aimed at different types of people. Bourdieu tries to clarify this distinction between sport and art when he speaks of “the moment from which there began to be constituted a field of competition within which sport was defined as a specific practice, irreducible to a mere ritual game or festive amusement” (Bourdieu, 1978: 821). This is particularly ironic for acrobatics as it suggests that sports were first a game or festive amusement and then became a specific practice. However, acrobatics is unique because it is not just a sport but also an art. This may seem contradictory but the supportive argument is presented below. Bourdieu states that exercising affects the body and the mind in both visible and invisible ways. Sometimes sport will showcase muscles and strength and other times elegance and health (Bourdieu, 1978). He makes a distinction between the two, but gymnastics and acrobatics are different in this aspect as they both show strength and health as well as elegance. Another distinction Bourdieu makes is between sport and social class. He identifies sports as being less intellectual and more masculine: creating leaders and winners and attracting people from “lower classes”. On the other hand, he describes art as more feminine; attracting people
15 from a higher class (Bourdieu, 1978). Although this distinction is possibly derived from Bourdieu’s personal context leading to some ethnocentric and time-bound limitations; as sports and arts are often universally understood, I do believe this distinction could be applied universally. This distinction affects the demographics of the audience; where sporting events attract a lower-class audience and art events attract an upper-class audience (Bourdieu, 1978). Due to this division, upper-class people would not perceive a career in sports as an acceptable career, explaining why there are more professional sportsmen from lower classes (Bourdieu, 1978). Because of this relationship between sport and class, successful sportsmen from lower-class backgrounds are more relatable to their audience (Bourdieu, 1978). This can give youth who look up to them hope that they could be “the next big thing”. In the context of acrobatics, the arguments stated above further demonstrate how acrobatics can be perceived as a unique hybrid of both sports and art. It is a very physical sport which can lead to the perception that it requires less intellect. In reference to Bourdieu’s logic, acrobatics would mainly attract worker’s audiences and repel the upper-class both as an audience and career path. However, due to its crossover with gymnastics, which is considered artful due to its elegance and grace, it becomes an art that is now attractive to the higher-class. This also impacts the interrelationship between the performer and audience because performers can now be from a different class than the audience. It can therefore be concluded that acrobatics is both a sport and an art. This leads exercisers of acrobatics to gain skills from both performing arts and sports which can be translated into different types of capital.
Performing arts skills In order to identify the skills that are unique to acrobatics as a performing art, theatre for development needs to be segmented and analyzed. Theatre for development generally aims for the audience to critically analyze their social environment (Nogueira, 2002). There are two main stages to contemporary theatre for development; which are the producing stage and the actual performance (Nogueira, 2002). Each stage allows for the development of different skills. The production stage is characterized by the sharing of creative ideas and brainstorming. It
16 encourages participants to communicate and collaborate to find solutions for potential issues. This communication could be between groups that would usually not interact, but are brought together by the need to choreograph a performance (Nogueira, 2002). Moreover, it allows the participants to work with a different number of people, sometimes divided up in pairs, smaller groups, or one big group (Maglio & McKinstry, 2008). The theatre piece consists of teamwork between the performers during the performance itself, and showcases showmanship as well as musicality (Maglio & McKinstry, 2008). It also further develops non-verbal communication and improvisation (Maglio & McKinstry, 2008). Finally, it allows for self-expression within a participant’s comfort zone (Bassel, 2005). To support these performing arts skills, the next section will identify skills that can be developed through sports.
Sports skills Now that acrobatics is identified as a sport and art, a complete picture of all the skills that acrobats gain through acrobatics can be constructed. In order to do this, it must first be explained why sports is an effective tool for development and what skills performers acquire from participating in sport. Sport is perceived as a tool to build character and create leaders. Because of this, people who are involved in sports are often characterized as possessing willpower, energy and courage (Bourdieu, 1978). It can also affect the way a person is perceived by others because sports can lead to better posture, strength and a healthy image (Bourdieu, 1978). Additionally, the way sports-people are trained can influence their communication; making them more confrontational and straight-forward (Bourdieu, 1978). Because of these traits, sport is utilized as an alternative tool for development not only to raise awareness in a non-political way but also to equip the practitioners with strong interpersonal skills (Levermore, 2008). Sport allows people to connect with each other; to create unification between different groups of people and it has historically been linked to positive effects on both physical and mental health (Levermore, 2008). As a result of this, an increasing amount of organizations such as the ILO, WHO, UNICEF, and non-UN organizations such as Sport Sans Frontiere have created, and have been part of, sport for development programs (Levermore, 2008). Supporting research by Levermore has shown how these sports programs have affected
17 conflict resolution, intercultural understanding, raising awareness, economic development as well as physical and psychological health (Levermore, 2008). Furthermore, the World Health Organization recognizes physical activity as a means to improve lifestyles through healthier diets, discouraging smoking, alcohol and drug use, reducing violence, improving functional capacity and encouraging interactions and integration (Levermore, 2008). Moreover, sport is seen as an effective tool in distracting youth from unhealthy habits or illegal activities (Levermore, 2008). Part of this is that it keeps children and youth off of the streets. An example of this is how in the past boarding schools have utilized sports as a way to occupy the students without too much supervision (Bourdieu, 1978). Having youth do sports in schools is useful in many ways as it is healthy and it allows the youth to release their energy at each other instead of at potential supervisors or the school building (Bourdieu, 1978). Finally, another outstanding quality of sports development is that it allows participants to acquire physical literacy. Physical literacy is defined as the acquisition of sophisticated movements that create an inventory of skills that can be used for any physical activity (Simunkova, et al., 2013). This has a positive influence on a person’s behavior, life skills and their overall level of physical activity. It can help an individual to develop life skills, increase motivation, self-confidence and determination to live a healthy life style. A by-product of this is that it brings joy and fulfilment to the participant (Simunkova, et al., 2013). Furthermore, developing physical literacy at a young age motivates a person to upkeep their physical activity throughout their lives (Maglio & McKinstry, 2008). Therefore, skills gained from sports have a life-long impact on an individual’s functioning and are thus necessary for youth’s development into adult life (Maglio & McKinstry, 2008). Supportive research conducted with refugees in France who were encouraged to participate in a circus school showed that the program helped to combat feelings of loneliness, improve self- expression and allowed refugees to organize themselves (Bassel, 2005). Further research conducted by Maglio and McKinstry on circus and therapy showed that involving youth in circus activities increases group solidarity, resilience and excellence as well as improves social skills through collaboration and teamwork (Maglio & McKinstry, 2008). A specific focus on acrobatics improves strength, flexibility, body awareness, and encourages taking risks (Maglio & McKinstry,
18 2008). Skills that are more focused on balance can reduce individual’s fear of heights, increase self-confidence and create awareness of others. Therefore, the skills that are developed by physical activity and specifically acrobatics and gymnastics can successfully help youth’s chances of entering the workforce (Levermore, 2008). As research shows, a wide variety of skills can be mastered by taking part in performing arts as well as in sports. As explored throughout this research, each of these skills can be categorized into different types of capital. Furthermore, another factor that needs to be considered is that these skills can be acquired collectively as well as individually. In order to understand how an acrobatics team contributes to skill development and capital accumulation its importance is analyzed in the next section.
Team work leading to collective efficacy To be able to understand how a team aspect can influence the acrobats’ skill acquisition, collective efficacy needs to be taken into consideration. It also needs to be considered that each individual acrobat will have their own goals and desires and when a team comes together they must consolidate these into common goals. Simultaneously, it should not be forgotten that each individual in a team is a product of their past and based on this creates their future, impacting their team, which in this case becomes the agency (Bandura, 2000). Bandura defines three types of agencies having an impact on how people manage themselves. The most relevant type of agency for this research is collective agency which is when paths are more interdependent and people work together with a common goal (Bandura, 2000). Acrobat’s interdependence is not only relevant to achieve their ultimate goal but it is also crucial for training, where acrobats need to develop trusted relationships with one another. When successful, this sense of trust can lead to stronger collective power resulting in a greater collective agency. The extent to which a group can be successful collectively is thus dependent on the group dynamics and the way in which individuals within the group communicate and coordinate (Bandura, 2000). This means that the group’s motivation, aspirations and regulations are crucial to collective efficacy. Subsequently, this impacts how each individual can contribute to the group through their resources, energy and ability to solve problems (Bandura, 2000).
19 Eventually their contributions show in their accumulation of individual capital. Since the sense of dependence is so strong, if the collective fails, the individual’s accumulation of any type of capital will be affected negatively. It can therefore be stated that strong collective efficacy is characterized by a group that has a strong bond of trust which enables them to perform well and secure more jobs (Bandura, 2000). However, weak collective efficacy shows a lack of trust, for example a “base-person” who is not strong enough to carry all the “top persons”, which prevents a team from optimal performance. This can affect their individual lives because of the implications of weak collective efficacy such as being booked less for performances. It shows that in acrobatics the interdependence is so strong that one weak link will affect the entire group. This motivates individuals to have greater cooperation within the group and a stronger sense of togetherness (Bandura, 2000). It also has positive consequences for the individual acrobat as they gain a sense of inspiration from the team that motivates them to develop and enhance their skills. To conclude, the above argument demonstrates that the interdependence of acrobats leads to positive collective efforts that influence the individuals’ ability to acquire skills and create a clear vision for their future.
Capital In order to make sense of the skills gained from sports and performing arts and how they can be translated into a tool of development outside these activities, I will translate these skills into capital. Capital can be seen as a way in which these skills can be converted into something more tangible. It will therefore allow me to identify what forms of capital acrobats gain from their training and classify the acrobat’s stories in the different types of capital. A lot of literature on the conceptualization of capital exists, but this thesis will take on the school of thought from Pierre Bourdieu. According to Bourdieu, different types of capital help to make sense of social structures and how inequality can develop (Bourdieu, 1986). He also states that it takes time to derive capital and to develop it in such a way for it to be beneficial and profitable (Bourdieu, 1986). This thesis will include these qualities of capital in its analysis and refer to them. The analysis in chapter five will also showcase how the types of capital influence and reinforce each
20 other. Finally, Bourdieu’s theory of capital defines four different types of capital namely: economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital, each evaluated below.
Economic capital Economic capital is the most recognized type of capital and is expressed in monetary value. It is the type of capital that is often desired as a result of investments in cultural, social and symbolic capital. Bourdieu states that all types of capital influence each other and one cannot exist without the other (Bourdieu, 1986). Therefore, to accumulate economic capital, social, cultural and symbolic capital are also necessary. This can be seen in acrobatics, where the skills the acrobat acquires as well as the social capital from the collective agency is what brings the monetary gain.
Cultural capital Cultural capital can be divided into three different types that are also interdependent. The first type is the embodied state (Bourdieu, 1986) which is capital gained through the time invested in acquiring and improving certain skills. In the case of acrobats this could be the time they invest in their training as well as the skills that they gain from training. These skills include both the physical skills such as being able to do a handstand or build pyramids, and the interpersonal that were previously identified. This means that cultural capital in its embodied state is inherent to the individual that develops it and can therefore not be shared (Bourdieu, 1986). For this type of capital to be beneficial it needs to create external value. This external value arises when the skills are monetized by the next state of cultural capital: the objectified state. Capital in its objectified state is when a consumable object is created out of the embodied state of capital. Because this type of capital can be consumed by others it functions as a profit maker (Bourdieu, 1986). An example of this could be when acrobats receive payments for the shows and performances they give. This payment is a product of the skills that the acrobat gains during training as described by the embodied state. This is then translated into a show which becomes an object that can be consumed by others. Other people’s consumption brings about the monetary gain and transforms this form of cultural capital into economic capital.
21 The third state of cultural capital is the institutionalized state. In this case the embodied state is given qualifications so that they acquire a measurable value (Bourdieu, 1986). An example of this is physical education (PE) classes given in school. In PE students are given grades for their accomplishments and the sport becomes institutionalized and the skills acquired are of measurable value. The institutionalized state is more difficult to translate to acrobatics in an informal economy such as slums because the chances of acrobatics being institutionalized are small. However, it still holds relevance because the institutionalized state helps to enforce symbolic capital. furthermore, according to Bourdieu’s theory, the other types of capital do not necessarily have the feature of being able to be embodied, objectified and institutionalized. However, the individual embodiment, objectification and institutionalization of cultural capital does lead to accumulation of the different types of capital.
Social Capital The third type of capital is social capital. Social capital is the network that an individual creates when they become a part of a group (Bourdieu, 1986). This group collectively owns and provides social capital which can be used to accumulate cultural and economic capital. In the case of the acrobats, their involvement in a team is dependent on the social capital of the team and its individual members. Furthermore, this social capital is also directly dependent on the strength of the collective efficacy of the team. This means that the better a team works together and broadens their skills, the more shows they secure and the bigger their network grows which results in greater social capital.
Symbolic Capital Symbolic capital is the way in which someone’s perspective of themselves is objectified through, for example, awards, diploma’s and personal expenditures such as art (Bourdieu, 1984). Through symbolic capital a person creates a self-image of power that becomes internalized (Bourdieu, 1984). Symbolic power is important because it can lead to acquisition of other types of capital. For example, an acrobat who sells their skills is dependent on the willingness of other people to purchase rights to observe their skills in order to expand their symbolic capital. If
22 people do purchase tickets to a performance the acrobat benefits financially. Furthermore, symbolic capital through art is more significant for higher class people as they can afford to pay for such art. Therefore, as previously mentioned, the identification of acrobatics as either a sport or an art is essential to attracting different audiences. This is because according to Bourdieu, if acrobatics was only seen as a sport it would mainly be watched by a middle-class audience (Bourdieu, 1978). However, due to acrobatics being a unique hybrid between sport and art, it is consumed by various audiences which creates a balanced demand for the art and sport. This has positive effects because it allows acrobats to efficiently convert their symbolic capital into economic capital. Thus, as soon as symbolic capital is recognized it changes into economic or cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984).
Physical capital Taking the unique nature of acrobatic training into account, another type of capital that can be identified is physical capital. Physical capital can be based off of Loic Wacquant’s contribution of bodily capital (Wacquant, 2004) with some additional factors to be considered. Wacquant sets out bodily capital based on the fact that in boxing the practitioners are very dependent on their body for their career (Wacquant, 2004). Their bodies are the center of their life as they use them for their work as well as to influence their accumulation of different types of capital. Their bodies are a result of their past training and current life style (Wacquant, 1995). This can very well be compared to acrobatics where the body is the acrobat’s tool and any injuries can render an acrobat’s career. Similarly, acrobats need to pay attention to their body weight, rest patterns and nutrition in order for them to function optimally in training. Moreover, in acrobatics awareness of others is crucial to prevent accidents and anticipate unexpected events such as the collapse of a human pyramid. Body awareness and flexibility which were identified as skills obtained from doing acrobatics (Maglio & McKinstry, 2008) can also be classified as physical capital. As acrobats need to train until their bodies can perform the choreography fluently without having to think about the movements. Physical literacy defined by Simunkova, et al, (Simunkova, et al., 2013) and specifically the inventory of skills leads to expanded physical capital as well. Finally, body posture, strength and a healthy image which were all seen as positive
23 results of participating in sports by Bourdieu (Bourdieu, 1978) are factors building up one’s physical literacy. These skills combined are what develop physical capital which is different in nature to the previously mentioned types of capital due to its focus on bodily qualities. As a result of this, physical capital becomes the fifth and final capital type included. With this I have identified the skills acrobats acquire and how these can be translated into various types of capital that result in monetary gain. The next section will analyze how the different types of capital and skills help the acrobat through a more personal development viewpoint via trajectories.
Trajectories To fully answer the question of how different types of capital can be accumulated it is necessary to identify how these types of capital can be used and what opportunities they lead to. This does not only include acrobats’ futures but also how the different forms of capital have affected their past. To do this, I will analyze if and how the acrobats use certain types of capital based on their life stories. As acrobatics is usually practiced in a team, trajectories need to be looked at from both an individual and collective perspective. Individually, Bourdieu states that one’s trajectory is build up by dispositions often formed by the way people perceive themselves and their specific role within the social world (Bourdieu, 1984). For Bourdieu, self-perception, or what he refers to as habitus is built from the habits and skills that a person holds as a result of their past (Bourdieu, 1984). Since it has already been identified that sports can lead to a better lifestyle, general empowerment and personal skill development, it could be argued that these positive habits and skills lead acrobats to have a better perception of themselves and thus increased symbolic capital. This would then lead to greater confidence and the ability to successfully solve personal challenges. Collectively, Bourdieu highlights that the social world and thus the people surrounding an individual can be an influencing factor on one’s trajectory. He sets this out by emphasizing that people who classify together are more likely to develop a similar life style and therefore accumulate similar capital (Bourdieu, 1984). This can impact acrobat’s lives towards both sides
24 of the spectrum, for example, negatively due to peer pressure to take part in illegal activities, or positively where a team rises up together. This interdependence between the individual and agency lead to accumulation of capital for both the team as well as the individuals. Furthermore, one person’s individual efficacy is dependent on their trajectory, which will then also influence the collective trajectory (Bourdieu, 1984). In acrobatics, this is relevant because a group might identify a common goal which will create a common trajectory which could influence all individual’s lifestyles to synchronize. This interdependence provides support for how symmetry in lifestyles and networks can influence the acrobat’s future trajectory positively. Lastly, the acrobats could gain different opportunities through their job that can influence their trajectories. The biggest opportunity within the specific context of Kenya is the fact that it could offer a form of employment. This employment could come from within Kenya as well as abroad, which would lead to completely new opportunities in the shape of travelling abroad. Moreover, research by Fraser-Thomas, et al., has shown that participating in sports can have a positive influence on one’s social network with opportunities such as the improvement of social status (Fraser-Thomas, et al., 2005).
Conclusion To establish the skills that need special focus in the data analysis, a distinction between sports and performing arts has been made. In addition to this, it has been concluded that acrobatics possesses traits from both arts and sports which allows participants to gain a variation of skills both individually and collectively as a team. It has been identified that through performing arts these skills are mainly creativity and self-expression. On the other hand, skills that are acquired through sports and specifically acrobatics are communication, health, energy and willpower. Furthermore, the importance of collective efficacy in the acquisition of skills was recognized. The theory shows how collective efficacy contributes to a stronger sense of unification, group solidarity and community and therefore the building of character and leadership skills. In aggregate, the above discussion enables the research to identify the different types of skills developed through acrobatics
25 From this, the different forms of capital were elaborated on to allow for a more tangible overview of how acrobats gain from their training and performances. Besides the four common types of capital: economic, cultural, social and symbolic, a fifth type of capital was developed, namely: physical capital. This enables the research to focus more on how the body is used as a tool and the qualities or skills that the body develops independent of the mind. All forms of capital reinforce one another and the accumulation of one leads to a positive cycle of accumulating others. Furthermore, they all create different types of resources that individuals can use in their lives. Finally, a general understanding of how these types of capital can influence the future of an individual and create opportunities was built through the study of trajectories. The goal of the data analysis will be to classify the different life stories of the acrobats into the different types of capital. This will allow the research to analyze how the types of capital work out in real life and how they affect each other through interdependency. Moreover, the team aspect of acrobatics reveals a perspective on how being part of a team with collective efficacy can influence an individual’s capital accumulation. Here it could be argued that if a team works well together, all individuals within the team can collectively gain capital while benefitting individually. To bring this into practice, the next chapter will present the research design that has been used for data collection in order to answer the research question.
26 Chapter 3: Research Design
This chapter will present an outline of the methods used to gather data that will help to answer the research question and sub-questions formulated below. The research question and sub-questions are based on the theoretical framework. The research took place over a 10-week period from January 24th until March 28th in Nairobi, Kenya. Due to an already established network a local supervisor was not necessary.
Research Question and sub-questions Research Question: What are skills that youth in Kangemi, Nairobi develop through acrobat training and how do these translate into capital that they can use in their lives?
Sub-questions: • What are the skills that acrobats develop? • How can these skills be classified into the different types of capital that have been identified? • How can they use these types of capital in their lives?
Conceptual Scheme and Operationalization The conceptual scheme presented in figure 1 shows how the research has been conceptualized. The large outer square represents the acrobats in the Kangemi slum, who are the participants of this research. The data collection process will focus on finding out how training in acrobatics and being part of performances leads to the development of both individual and collective skills. These skills feed into capital accumulation and will be translated into the different types of capital set out by the theoretical framework. Finally, there will be an analysis showcasing how these different types of capital have influenced acrobat’s lives.
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Figure 1: Conceptual Scheme
28 The operationalization table presents the conceptualization of skill development, capital and trajectories. The dimensions of skill development are performance skills and sport skills. For capital, there are the economic, cultural, social, symbolic and physical capital dimensions and the conceptualization of trajectories is divided up into individual and collective trajectories. The operationalization shows how the indicators of the skill development and capital concepts could potentially influence acrobat’s trajectories. To eventually come to a conclusion on how trajectories are affected, the focus of the research will be on skill development and how that translates into capital. Concepts Dimensions Variables Indicators Skill development Performance skills Production Use of creativity Brainstorming Communication Collaboration Solution seeking Audio-visual data Performing Team work during performance Improvisation Showmanship Musicality Self-expression Audio-visual data Sport skills Bodily skills Posture Strength Flexibility Balance Precision Energy Coordination Body awareness Awareness of others Inventory of skills Healthy image Personal skills Self confidence Trust in oneself Character building Leadership Courage Willpower
29 Fear overcoming Risk taking Striving for excellence Resilience Joy Fulfillment Motivation Planning Ambition Self-organization Determination Perseverance Life style Diet Smoking Alcohol Drugs Violence Distraction from unhealthy habits Upkeep physical activity Team work Unification Connect with people Community feeling Conflict resolution Intercultural understanding Organization Group solidarity Collaboration Awareness of others Feelings of loneliness Interactions Integration Collective efficacy Awareness raising Trust in team Collective power Group dynamics Coordination Regulations Collective resources Weak links Interdependence
30 Cooperation Inspiration Support Control and help each other Communication Audio-visual data Capital Economic Capital Monetary gain Money earned Costs being payed Material gain Clothing Training material Gifts Cultural Capital Embodied Skills gained Time investment Objectified Performance creation Number of performances Consumption performances Institutionalized Recognition Qualifications Symbolic Capital Self-image Awards Diplomas Personal expenditures e.g. art Social Capital Individual network Training friends Non-training friends Family Collective network Team contacts Team friends Team leader Coaches Supporters Audience members Physical Capital Bodily Capital Body dependency (Wacquant) Protection of body Nurturing of body Rest Nutrition Safety Body weight Body awareness Flexibility Strength Body posture
31 Healthy image Inventory of skills Acrobat’s life Individual Self- Skills as result of past perception/Habitus Life style Individual goals Interdependence Opportunities Employment Travelling Network expansion Media attention Diversification Collective Collective efficacy Life style of group Individual trajectories influencing the group Common goals Interdependence
Research Location As already stated, this research was conducted in a slum known as Kangemi that is located in Nairobi, Kenya. Kangemi can be found on the West side of Nairobi near the border of Kiambu County. Figure 2 shows the exact location of this slum within the Nairobi County. Here, I joined a team of acrobats that train in the Kangemi social hall almost every morning. Data collection took place in the training hall during training and in an office next to the hall where I conducted most of the interviews. This area was chosen out of convenience. I was referred to this training-site by another acrobat because there was a big group of youth training there who were willing to welcome me. Even though all the youth trained in the Kangemi slum, they were all born in different areas in Kenya. In fact, most train in Kangemi and live in other areas around Nairobi.
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Figure 2. Research location in Nairobi, Kenya. Maps derived from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kenya_in_Africa_(undisputed_only).svg; https://www.shutterstock.com/image- vector/kenya-political-map-capital-nairobi-national-208602298; http://hungrycities.net/city/nairobi-kenya/
Research Methodology
Unit of analysis In order to allow myself to classify acrobat’s stories in the different types of capital, I gathered data about skills that acrobats gain as well as their life stories over a period of ten weeks. The youth that participated in this research were acrobats between the ages of 25-35 years old. All interviewees are male, this is due to the fact that most youth who are involved in acrobatics in Nairobi are male. Initial access to the interviewees was obtained through an already existing network in Nairobi among the acrobats creating a snowball effect. Because of the friendship that was built up between the acrobats and myself, they were willing to participate in the interviews and share their life stories. To gather information on the unit of analysis, observation and participation notes were taken of approximately 20 acrobats during training. Despite all acrobats being male, a growing
33 interest from females was observed over time. Unfortunately, I was unable to interview these women. However, this growing interest enabled me to take some notes on how the acrobats reacted to women participating in their training. All participants in the acrobat training were above 18 years old with the exception of two young street boys who joined in on one training. Furthermore, during the data collection process, acrobats often referred to a circus school called Sarakasi. I therefore decided to interview the managing director of this circus school. It was easy to obtain access to her because we both knew the same acrobats. This created an instant connection that resulted in an opportunity to train at her circus school for a day enabling me to collect further field notes. The field notes as well as the interviews enabled me to gather solid information on the skills that the acrobats obtained from their training. This information in turn helped me to find out about the different forms of capital that the acrobats possess. The life history part of the interviews is integral to placing the types of capital into the acrobat’s contexts and consecutively analyze how the capitals can be classified within acrobat’s experiences.
Data collection methods The most suiting data collection method to answer the sub-questions is through qualitative data collection methods. As the theoretical framework suggests, a lot of the skills gained from being in sports or performing arts are difficult to measure and open to interpretation. Due to this, qualitative research allows for an insider’s perspective on the participants view, resulting in a more complete set of data that can answer the research question adequately. Moreover, a lot of research done on similar topics has been based on qualitative research (Kabiru, et al., 2013; Maglio & McKinstry, 2008; Thieme, 2010). Varying methods of data collection ensure triangulation, resulting in different perspectives and views on the research question (Ritchie, et al., 2013). The data collection methods used are: participant observation resulting in fieldnotes, audio-visual data and in-depth interviews. These methods are deemed appropriate for this research due to a personal perspective on good research in development studies that focusses on a bottom-up approach. I aim to “truthfully reflect aspects of the lived
34 realities of actors” (Gitonga, 2015: 985). This approach allows for an evaluation of the research question from the perspective of the participants.
Participant observation, field notes and audio-visual data collection To answer the first sub-question which focusses on the skills that acrobats develop, participant observation methods are used for data collection. Specifically, skill development indicators such as communication, team work, showmanship, awareness of others, leadership, collaboration, interactions and group dynamics are more easily identified through participant observation. My 10 weeks of active participation in the trainings of the acrobats allowed for a bond of trust and mutual understanding which created a more authentic view of their lives. I was able to level with them, whilst staying aware of the inherent differences we have (Thieme, 2010). Participation reduced the obvious gender difference between the acrobats and myself and allowed the acrobats to see me as an equal within their occupation. Prior to participating, I took the time to get to know the team. Together with a translator we explained the purpose of the research and the key reason why I was there. My historic experience in high-level gymnastics training enabled me to keep up with the long and tough trainings that lasted three to six hours each day of the week. For the entire duration of my stay I trained with the acrobats on a daily basis. I took daily field notes of my observations and conversations with the acrobats. These field notes focused on the indicators of skill-development identified in the operationalization table. Audio-visual data was obtained in the shape of videos and photos from the trainings and performances. These video’s will
35 specifically allowed me to analyse teamwork between the acrobats focussing on indicators such as: communication, interactions, collaboration and coordination. Furthermore, the documented field-notes enabled me to reflect on my own position within the field (Drew, et al., 2010). During training and performances, special notes were taken on skills that the acrobats possess which are unique to their occupation, through indicators mainly under the bodily skills indicator of the operationalization table. Moreover, the observations allowed for an initial analysis of how the skills obtained can be translated into capital.
In-depth interviews To get a well-rounded perspective on all skills obtained, in-depth interviews were conducted. These interviews did not only aim to shed light on skill development, but also to find out how and whether different types of capital such as economic, social, symbolic and physical capital have an effect on acrobats’ trajectories. This could allow me to classify these stories within the different types of capital. Here, indicators were mainly inspired by the economic, social and symbolic types of capital. Prior to starting the interviews, I trained with the acrobats for about two weeks in order to form a bond and give them the chance to get to know me and ask questions. Moreover, being part of the team enabled me to have open communication which then allowed me to design the interviews more accurately to the acrobat’s realities (O’Brien, 2010). The interviews allowed for a deep and personal understanding of the lives of the acrobats (Ritchie, et al., 2013). All the interviews were conducted in English and ranged between 50 and 120 minutes in duration. The interviews were semi-structured to allow for flexibility, probing and adjustments to unexpected influences. Moreover, it gave the interviewee space to move the interview in a
36 direction that they thought was most important but still within the existing framework (Ritchie, et al., 2013). This structure was chosen because it gave the interviewee the freedom to direct the conversation. Initially, it was not my intention to ask for life-stories, as it is very personal. However, the conversation often led to life-stories, therefore, the structure of the interviews was changed to focus more on life-stories.
Limitations and methodological reflection As previously mentioned the research was only conducted with one specific group which can be considered as a sample of a much larger population of acrobats. No interviews were conducted with other groups from other areas which may appear to make information limited and thus generalization of the research difficult. However, there were two other group observations from within Nairobi, one at the circus school: Sarakasi and the other in another slum located on the East-side of Nairobi: Huruma. There were also some further observations of a training group in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at the circus: Mama Africa. Despite English being one of Kenya’s official languages, the use of English in the interviews could sometimes limit the expression of the acrobats because it was usually their second or third language besides Swahili and their mother-tongue/tribal language. I tried to overcome this by learning a bit of Swahili and by making sure to always ask the interviewees to explain things that I did not understand. Vice versa it was the same during the interviews if I said something the acrobat did not understand. They generally did not shy away from asking questions and requesting clarifications. A final limitation was a political disruption in the second week of the research. Due to this, it was no longer safe to be in the slums where training took place and therefore the acrobats and I did not train that week. After a week of political tensions and the shutting down of three main news-channels, tensions subsided and training was resumed4.
4 As this political disruption did not last very long, it did not significantly influence my research. I was lucky, because if it would have lasted longer it could have influenced my research significantly. In fact, I used the time in which I was unable to do my research in Nairobi to travel to Tanzania and do some observations of acrobats at a circus called Mama Africa.
37 Gender A substantial limitation of this research is the lack of interviews and observations of female acrobats. The fact that acrobatics in Nairobi seems to be male-dominated shows that there is a very clear gender dimension and that gender does play a significant role in acrobatics. Unfortunately, in the short timeframe I had, I was unable to explore all acrobatic groups in Nairobi and was unable to get into contact with female acrobats. Any observations that I made regarding the gendered nature of acrobatics only came from my personal interactions with the acrobats. Due to my western origin, I was an exception in this aspect and probably treated differently than if a local woman had joined the team. I therefore cannot be a valid subject. As this research did not aim to investigate the lack of female acrobats, this point will not receive further elaboration.
Trustworthiness The research takes credibility into consideration through the relationship that is built between the researcher and the participants of the research (Bryman, 2012). This relationship of trust which was built through collective training was to ensure that the interviews were of a higher quality. Moreover, after transcribing, there were many opportunities for me to ask for clarification if necessary. It is important to note that I was still a foreigner and this made me aware that completely understanding their context is not viable. However, due to the amount of time spent with the participants in a training site that was in the area where they lived, it was possible to get a better understanding of the participants’ context (Bryman, 2012). In terms of coming close to reality, by participating with the acrobats I came very close to their own reality and my fieldnotes and audio-visual data became more reliable (Bryman, 2012). A research with similar questions could be conducted but the answers will likely not be the same due to strong contextual dependency and the qualitative nature of the research. Life-stories are dependent on context and the sample size was limited to participants training at the same location. Due to this, transferability is difficult to ensure (Bryman, 2012). Nevertheless, due to the participants being very close to each other, I was able to double check if stories that were told were true since the stories often featured other acrobats that were interviewed. In order to
38 make transferability more reliable, specificity on the area and the context in which the research was conducted needs to be ensured. Clear descriptions on the research methods and why they were used enhance dependability (Bryman, 2012). A clear limitation is my objectivity or confirmability since I entered the field with preconceived values (Bryman, 2012). I am very well aware that I am a western woman coming into the field which can create power relations that I am unable to influence. All I could do to try and reduce this, was to remain aware that this could influence the way in which some people talked to me. I also hope that I was able to reduce this because it was not my first time being there and because of my background in acrobatics. However, this does also come with limitations because the fact that I am an acrobat might have caused me to have blind spots forcing me to see things in certain ways. Moreover, this has likely made me pre-favorable to the acrobats. I attempted to overcome this by talking to non-acrobatics locals, my friends from university and my supervisor about this.
Authenticity Due to the small scale and time frame of the research, there was no intention to have any big impact on the social or political environment of the participants. Though, the results can be used to show how training in acrobatics has had an influence on the participant’s lives. The interviews show different viewpoints of the participants, although a weakness would be the lack of diversity of the participants as they all come from the same training site and are all male. An extra dimension was added by interviewing someone who started a circus school where many of the participants have trained for a long time. This will enable the research to show a different perspective on the acrobats and their lives and thus allows for triangulation (Bryman, 2012). Triangulation was also applied through the different sources of data collected. Data was collected with in-depth interviews, thorough field notes concerning participant observation and a collection of photos and videos. Due to the friendships between the participants, and the way I was included in the group, we sometimes informally discussed things that had come up in interviews. Feedback from the participants was that the interviews allowed them to reflect on their life and to see how far they have come. The purpose of the research was not to trigger
39 action from the participants to change their situations, however the side effects of the interviews were sometimes that they realized they wanted certain things. It sometimes functioned as a reminder of their dreams and ambitions.
Ethical considerations In order to protect the participants and keep all ethical considerations of the AISSR guidelines in mind, informed consent, confidentiality, participant safety and dissemination were all considered. Before every interview the participant was fully informed of the research with an oral summary of the proposal (AISSR., 2017). Participants were free to ask any questions and prior to starting the recording they were asked if they agree to be part of the research. All participants gave explicit consent. The results will be shared with the respondents through an easy to understand summary of the findings and some visual representation to ensure dissemination. The most obvious and possibly problematic ethical dilemma is that all acrobats are male, and I am female. Due to the fact that the acrobats were not used to training with females, especially from a western origin, there was a possibility of unprofessional interactions. This is further enhanced by the physical nature of acrobatics and the strong trust relationship that is necessary to practice it. I tackled this by always remaining professional and having a firm stance on the level of interactions between the acrobats and myself. I also made sure not to engage with them in any other setting than professional training, performances or interviews. Meanwhile, I am very much aware that this dynamic could have impacted the research. Another method in which I tried to tackle this was by using open communication, building trust through my participation, and forming an equal understanding. To have open communication I made sure to be approachable and to take my time if anyone wanted to speak to me. Building trust between the acrobats and myself was successfully done through my participation in human pyramids and training, I also made sure I was not treated differently than the other team members. Another ethical consideration is the anonymity of the participants. I received consent from all participants to use their real names in this thesis. I also got permission to add their photos and videos to the thesis. Since nothing in this thesis is very sensitive and most of it is actually
40 quite positive, I decided to use the acrobat’s nicknames and use the audio-visual material that I collected over the research period. To allow participants to feel comfortable enough to ask me questions I aimed to remain as open and approachable as possible. I did this by coming early to trainings and being the last one to leave in case anyone wanted to talk to me. During the research I stayed attentive of minor ethical dimensions through reflexivity (Guillemin, 2004). This reflexivity was mainly done through my daily diary entries in which I reflect in detail on everything that happened that day. Finally, I am fully aware that the information I gained from participating and doing interviews is only a partial reality and dependent on personal experiences from the acrobats as well as myself. Due to the different sources of my data and the connections between all the acrobats, I am able to lay connections and explore whether they describe the same experience similarly. Conclusively, I trust that the stories they have told me are based on reality.
41 Chapter 4: Get to know the acrobats
Chapter four and five will focus on the acrobats and the information they provided during the interviews as well as the observations that I made while training with them. First, there will be a short introduction to get to know all interviewed acrobats. The table below presents their name, age, family structure, education, countries where they have performed and a quote that I liked. All this information was derived from interviews or by asking them afterwards. I selected these specific indicators because they stood out in the interviews as having been significant in the acrobats’ lives. This also explains why the paragraph after the table will introduce Sarakasi. During the interviews it became clear that the organization Sarakasi, a circus in Nairobi, has played a significant role in many of the acrobats’ lives. This name will reappear often in chapter five where acrobat’s life stories are elaborated on. The next section will highlight the acrobats’ life styles, specifically focusing on drug abuse, nutrition, injuries and involvement in violence. These were all identified in the theory as being influenced by youth’s involvement in sports. Moreover, as the acrobats come from poorer areas, these indicators are likely to have had some impact in their lives. This section finishes with a short paragraph on “morale”. Morale is highlighted here because it has a big influence on the quality of training for the acrobats. The last section of this chapter will emphasize the unique life opportunities that being an acrobat provides. The most important opportunity is that the acrobats have employment which can even give them the opportunity to travel all over the world. The acrobats get to discover special locations, earn media attention, experience intercultural understanding and even learn new languages. All these opportunities combined with the acrobats’ life styles shape the way in which they accumulate capital.
Name Age From Family Education Countries Quote performed James 1988 Nairobi 9 siblings Finished Turkey, China “You have to come with (30) (4 primary (currently) something new, you cannot be siblings + and boring you cannot present the father secondary same thing” passed) school Charles 1986 Rural area 1 brother Finished Tanzania, “Very active. When I’m doing (32) (both primary Uganda, anything, it’s like, you want to
42 parents and Germany, sleep, you’re going to bed, and passed) secondary South Sudan, your door is still open” school Netherlands, China (currently) Ali 1989 Mombasa 4 siblings Finished Turkey, India, “I will do acrobats until my (29) and 9 primary Taiwan, Israel, bones told me to stop” half school China, Cyprus siblings (currently) (both parents passed) Bruce 1986 Kakamega 15 Finished Germany, “You read a page, and then (32) siblings primary Netherlands, you are tired, you relax and (brother school, India, Taiwan, then next time you continue and dropped Italy, Denmark, with the story, so my life is like mother out of China that through acrobatics. Every passed) secondary (currently) time I learn a new thing, and school that new thing helps me” Juma 1990 Mombasa 4 siblings Finished Turkey, Spain “It’s like, it’s my work and it’s (28) (Father primary (currently) my everything to me, so it has, passed) school it is big to me” Julius 1988 Mombasa ? Finished India, Egypt, “I can just recommend them (30) primary China to just do acrobatics and train and (currently) acrobat. They might get some secondary opportunities of jobs (…) Yeah, school it can bring them far” Bonny 1983 Kiambu 1 brother Finished Uganda, “So, my dream is that one day (35) primary Germany, I can have those mattresses so school Netherlands, I can give back to everyone” Italy, Belgium, Croatia, Spain (currently) Dennis 1991 Mombasa ? Finished At the time of “I believe that you can’t serve (27) primary the interview two masters at the same time. school, he had never So, I decided to first work with dropped travelled, my talent” out of currently he is secondary in Spain school Sammy 1986 Nakuru ? Finished Tanzania, “Even if I start in a small house (32) (mother primary Germany, like this, at least after, I will passed) school, Great Britain, start with something big. dropped China, Spain That’s how things they start, out of (currently) slowly by slowly” secondary school
43 Issa 1993 Muranga 4 siblings Finished Italy, Denmark, “Now I am the lucky guy, (25) (Father primary Spain because I have something and was and (currently) people like it, I too like it” never in secondary the school picture)
Introducing Sarakasi In some of the acrobats’ stories5 Sarakasi plays a big role. Sarakasi is a trust that was set up by Marion op het Veldt in 2001. She was inspired to start Sarakasi because she noticed that there were many acrobat groups in Nairobi struggling to find work. After numerous meetings and hard work, she was able to create a training space for not only the acrobats but also dancers. Through her network she created a database of clients all over the world where the acrobats and dancers could perform. Besides this, Sarakasi has empowering projects where the acrobats partake. This means that the acrobats receive professional training as well as employment through Sarakasi.
5 The following chapters draw on various interviews with different acrobats carried out at different times. Chapter four and the first parts of each section in chapter five draw on these interviews without necessarily specifying who they are. For further reference see appendix A: Overview of the interviews.
44 Life style
“Because here, in Kenya a lot of people, they don’t have work; especially youth, that’s why you can see, you can see they can harass you because they don’t have nothing to do, they are like ‘what can I do?’, ‘how can I get money?’, ‘how can I eat?’, but they don’t have idea. Because they think that okay, we didn’t go to school so we cannot get work. So, the only work we can do maybe is like kidnapping people’s so you can get money, or harassing people so that you can get money. And then others they just give up, they just use drugs so that they can’t, they can’t like, they just drink, or making injections in their bodies and they can just be like zombies: just flat all the time, so that they don’t have to face their life that is going. At least you became like crazy people and the life is just going, going like this, because if it’s just like stable and sober, you see the life how it is going and you see like what the fuck, I need to eat, I need to work, you have a lot of things to do. But if you make yourself like drugs, and everything, you feel like now everything is very easy because you don’t even need somewhere to sleep, you can even sleep outside. So, you are not expensive to your, like, you can stay, you can stay everywhere, you can eat even at the one where people throw things, you can go to the garbage and eat there. So, it’s like this, so it’s like now things become easy, smoking like this and you will not realise like this. That’s why you see so much people and because they don’t know how they will do”. – Juma, acrobat
As research suggests, exercising regularly can have a serious effect on life style. In my research I specifically focused on drug abuse, nutrition, injuries and involvement in violence, which all play a role in the acrobats’ lives. In the interviews, some of the acrobats stated that they have experience living on the streets and have either been addicted to illegal substances or had peers with addictions. However, at the time of the interviews, all acrobats stated that they no longer do drugs nor smoke cigarettes. In terms of alcohol, most said they do not drink and the few that do, stated that they are very careful not to drink too much or to drink in public. An issue that many of them highlighted was negative peer-pressure or other acrobats who are not as disciplined. This peer-pressure was especially prevalent in their past.
“So, when I went to the streets because of lack of understanding each other between me and my mother, now I started living with the guys on the streets: copying them behaving like them, sniffing glue. In Nakuru, I was sniffing glue, taking bhang and cigarettes, and beating people and robbing, I did it for two years.” – Sammy, acrobat
45 Many of the acrobats highlighted that nowadays they do not hang out with friends who have a bad influence on them and they do not trust anyone who smells like alcohol. A particular example of this occurred during my training with the acrobats when a new acrobat came in smelling like alcohol. Despite that, everyone continued as usual and attempted to put him in the pyramids. At one point I was required to do a handstand on top of him, but for safety purposes, Charles decided to test him and see if his state was a risk. His attempt at a head down handstand on top of the acrobat’s feet was futile as he was promptly dropped to the floor. The acrobat was immediately dismissed and the trust relationship was gone. Other interviews showed me that this was not something uncommon and that many of the acrobats have worked with colleagues under the influence of substances. Besides the serious safety concerns it imposes, it causes challenges because it is impossible to replace someone when the team is performing abroad. This is especially because acrobats are flown out for a specific contribution where they fit perfectly and balance out with other teammates to create safe performances. Nonetheless, since all acrobats participating in this research identified as non-substance users, it shows the advantage of collective efficacy where team members have a strong and positive social control on each other. In terms of nutrition, a lot of the acrobats said that they know how to pay attention to their diet and know what is good for them and what is not. Some even highlighted that they learned this from other artists on their work trips abroad. Nevertheless, they said that they are often unable to buy the good foods like greens and fruits because they are expensive and they cannot spend their money on luxury products. It was also mentioned that they do not like eating meat because they are scared it will make them sick or fat and as one of them said: “To me, meat here in Kenya, you know some meats… you can even eat human being meat” – Dennis, acrobat. As the opening quote of this section shows, it is not uncommon for youth in Kenya who live on the streets to turn to drugs or alcohol to ‘forget about life’. Some of the acrobats have had a past similar to what was described in that quote; riddled with boredom, substance abuse and violence. The acrobats are often very strong and one of them recalled being paid to beat others up when he lived on the streets. The same acrobat now, finds himself very peaceful and he no longer fights as a result of his involvement in acrobatics. Generally, the acrobats said that
46 because of acrobatics they have no energy left to go onto the streets or think about alcohol after training. For example, James said: “I can recommend young ones to train acrobat because when you are training it keeps you from doing bad things” – James, acrobat. When Issa was asked about his biggest dream he said:
“To help street kids. To have a safe and to have my own teaching, so they won’t be like me, taking bhang, like how I did here. To perform to get their own cash through their talent. That’s my dream and I want to make it true.” – Issa, acrobat.
Finally, an important aspect of the acrobats’ life style is how their teamwork affects their lives and decisions. Acrobats often move as a group and can even live together. Dennis who is currently in Spain with Issa and Sammy for a job said that their manager told them to live together so that they build a relation before they go to Spain where they would also be sharing an apartment. Then there is the ‘morale’, which keeps the energy and motivation of the acrobats high. The morale has a big influence on the acrobats’ moods and performances. One day during training we were testing out new ways to use the benches and chairs to create higher handstands. Everyone was working together and sharing creative ideas to try new things. We used some glass bottles to put underneath the chair legs to make the activity more challenging. At one-point, Walter tried a handstand in this dangerous formation but as he went down he dropped one of the blocks he was standing on. It fell onto one of the glass bottles, breaking it and spreading little pieces of glass all over the floor. Immediately the magic of the moment and morale were gone and as Charles nicely put it; they had fallen into a million pieces (For audio-visual representation click here or scan the QR code). During his interview Bruce described how the morale encourages creativity leading to more skills and a unique repertoire:
“Positive one is, when you are together and the spirit of training is up and ehm, many people like, people come with a lot of ideas. Like, today this one will go and sit down and say: “Ah, now I want, to bring this up, so we can practice and then I see how it will bring change in this group. And when it brings change, it will help us like get more skills, more than other groups. So, if there are a lot of
47 works they will look at new skills. So that is the positive thing, creativity.” – Bruce, acrobat.
Once the acrobats are successful at creating unique performances and skills through their creativity, they could get new opportunities for performances. The acrobats’ life styles and hard work leads to unique life opportunities which others in Nairobi could only dream of. To get an indication of their hard work and training click here or scan the QR code.
Unique life opportunities
“You know it’s all about life. You want a good life? A bad life? It’s yourself. You have the work to do. I am doing acrobat, it’s my work, so hopefully it’s going to give me something.” – Charles, acrobat
The acrobats get many opportunities through their work, which include employment opportunities at exclusive locations, the ability to travel, expanding one’s network and getting media attention. For the acrobats, the biggest opportunity they get is that they are employed in a city where there is a huge unemployment issue. On top of that, many of them value being their own boss; especially Ali, Dennis and Charles mentioned how they did not like others telling them what to do. Dennis told me that one-day he had gone to a place to ask if they would be interested in having him as a performer. He had a conversation with the boss but he suddenly asked Dennis if he wanted to be his secretary. Dennis answered:
“I told him: ‘I would love to be your secretary, but depending with whom I am, I will not agree with you’. He asked why. I told him ‘because you will give me the rules to be here in the office, come at this time, do this, don’t do that, when you don’t come, I do this… And I don’t like that in my job. I am the one who gives you what I want. I give you, when this week I perform this skill, next week I will give you another one. You are not the one to tell me, do this do that, nononono.’” – Dennis, acrobat.
48 This does not only show how Dennis really likes his freedom but also that through acrobatics he got another job opportunity. Almost all acrobats talk about diversifying from acrobatics to have more employment opportunities. These opportunities range from opening small businesses to jobs in which they still use their acrobatic talent. Issa has for example worked with different NGOs, doing events with gymnastics for children in hospitals. James talked about being a security guard or being a fitness trainer. He even mentioned that due to his work abroad where he picked up on languages, he could be a translator. Finally, all acrobats teach acrobatics to children on the side and have ambitions to further expand and develop their teaching in the future. Another opportunity that opens up for the acrobats is performing at special locations. An example of this is certain locations where only very high ranked or rich people go. A location that was mentioned by both Dennis and Julius was “Carnivore”, a restaurant that sometimes organizes events.
“Long time ago before I became serious with acrobatics, there was a club here in Nairobi called Carnivore. It’s a big place in Kenya, well known for performances. So, when I was in Mombasa, I used to hear this place, I heard this place was very, it’s an international place where internationals come, professional artists go there, so if you get the chance to go there, you might be, you must be very professional. So, I didn’t expect I would be there one day. So, I went there so many times. Yeah, somewhere many people wish to be there, but I am there. So, a normal person cannot just go there, so I got there, I performed there like seven times I guess. And it’s because of the acrobatics.” – Julius, acrobat.
This quote nicely illustrates how the acrobats make dreams a reality and have high aspirations. Even when Julius was living in Mombasa he dreamed of one day being able to go to Nairobi to perform at this restaurant. This is not the only dream that the acrobats realized, during the interviews, the acrobats often highlighted that their dream had always been to travel abroad and that this is a common goal for many Kenyans.
49 Travelling
“But for me, the way I have seen and what I have learned; it is not a must to go to school. It is not a must to be clever to get to an airplane. Because most people here, they work hard and studied so they can get to the airplane. But for me, that is not, what you have to do is your talent, your skill that you have. That is the skill that will bring you to go abroad. So, that even, that is how you help people in school. I used to tell boys and girls, you know what, do what you can, if you have a talent, go and do it! Don’t depend only on books. Books they favour, they might take you not because you are clever, but me that is your talent. If you coming number one, that is your talent. So, if you are doing like rugby, if you are good at rugby, so do that for the best, do that. If you are doing karate, do that, if you are a runner, a good runner, keep that in your mind and be strong on that and work hard on that. That’s your talent. It will take you overseas. And you’ll be rich in that if you want.” – Sammy, acrobat.
Figure 3. Countries where the acrobats have performed (That were identified in interviews, it is likely that there are more) Source of map: https://www.amcharts.com/visited_countries/#BE,HR,CY,DK,FR,DE,IT,NL,ES,TR,GB,EG,KE,SS,TZ,UG,CN,IN,IL,TW
Through their jobs, the acrobats have traveled all over the world to give performances. These journeys have not only allowed them to see many different places in the world, but also to develop certain skills going from intercultural understanding to language acquisition.
50 Many of the acrobats said that they learned about different cultures when they travelled abroad. Often, it is not only the acrobats being in a different country, but they also join a group or circus with people from all over the world, so they get to interact with many different cultures.
“I have come to know these people, how people live out there, I have come to know everything about how people live outside Kenya. How people react, how people, their social life. How they live their life. (…) I have came to know so much of the diversity, so much about them. – James, acrobat.
Besides the inter-cultural understanding that the acrobats gain, they get to see things and places that they would otherwise only see in magazines or on social media. Language acquisition is another advantage of traveling for performances. Bruce explained to me why it is so important for them to learn the different languages:
“So, I meet a lot of people and because we go to different places, places, you learn a lot of languages. So, you go there one week, this language and then you have to move to another country. And then, it’s difficult a little bit, because we are mostly working with kids so we have to talk a little bit of their language, so that they can be like: waah! You know the kids teaches you their language so that when you learn it and when you talk to them through the language they are like ah, now we can come very close, they like it. They enjoy what you’re doing and they teach you. So, we learn a lot from the kids and ehm we teach them. So, we do acrobats, training, but we learn also, we are also students.” – Bruce, acrobat.
Finally, and maybe most importantly, a personal benefit that the acrobats have from their training is that it makes them happy. Every acrobat mentioned in his interview how much he loves being an acrobat and how passionate and lucky he is with his job.
Conclusion Being an acrobat has changed the acrobats’ lives in many different ways. Participating in acrobatics and having the need to keep their bodies fit kept them away from drugs and other unhealthy habits. Furthermore, since they are always occupied in training and are tired after training, they are unlikely to get involved in violence. It could also be argued that as substance abuse and violence are often related to each other, the acrobats avoid getting into this negative
51 cycle through their healthy life style. Another motivation for the acrobats to maintain a healthy life style is their involvement in teaching younger children. The acrobats have often told me that they are role models to these children and would not want to give a wrong example. A limitation however, is that their life style and especially nutrition is dependent on their income. They often expressed the desire to have healthier nutrition with fresh vegetables and fruits, but due to financial constraints they cannot afford this. The acrobats’ high “morale” and healthy life style enables them to create unique life opportunities for themselves. These opportunities then help them to further develop certain skills. All of this combined enables the acrobats to accumulate unique forms of capital in exceptional ways. Chapter five will highlight these types of capital and through the acrobats’ life stories show how they were accumulated, further developed and used in life.
52 Chapter 5: Capital
Having looked into the life style and opportunities of acrobats, this chapter will focus on the types of capital described in the theoretical framework namely: economic, cultural, social, symbolic and physical capital. Each section will start with a small introduction to the type of capital and a description of how it generally impacts the acrobats. Thereafter, each section will have two specific stories from acrobats that showcase how each type of capital has influenced their lives. The goal of this chapter is to show how being an acrobat has enabled the accumulation of the different types of capital and how these have been utilized in the acrobats’ lives.
Economic capital As stated in the theoretical framework, economic capital is the type of capital that is desired as a result of investments in the other types of capital. Furthermore, in order to gain economic capital, it is necessary to initially possess the other types of capital. The different means through which economic capital can be accumulated have been highlighted in the operationalization table. Some of these include monetary gain, costs being paid, as well as, material gain in the form of clothing, equipment or gifts. In practice, all of these appeared to be very relevant. It should be noted that the acrobats stressed a clear difference between contracts abroad and in Kenya. They expressed this through their statements that they were paid very well abroad but too little in Kenya. Thus, with their inconsistent income and the need to stay fit through training, they have to plan their income very well. Indeed, one of the most important aspects of acrobat’s economic capital is their money management. This section will present two narratives, one in which an acrobat unsuccessfully managed his money and one in which an acrobat through his life experience, learned successful money management skills. In terms of gifts, the acrobats generally expressed that it was rare to be given equipment, clothing or gifts; however, it did occur on some occasions. This was evident in training where there was some equipment from schools such as Sarakasi. Furthermore, Ali said that sometimes when they had work abroad, some colleagues would gift them with certain equipment. However, the acrobats did clearly express that they prefer taking their own equipment when called to
53 perform. Additionally, Juma and Bruce stated that on some occasions they have received gifts from the audience, that range from monetary tips to phones, shoes or clothing. Issa, who’s story will be further elaborated on in the section on social capital, said that when he traveled he was sometimes supported with clothing. Moreover, the missionary where he lived would also receive sponsorship and sanitary materials such as soap and oils. Through performances the acrobats have objectified their skills and made them consumable for money. Economic capital for the acrobats is mostly accumulated through their shows abroad. The indirect economic capital that they gain can be identified through the type of contract that they are offered. When travelling abroad, besides the payment, the flight, visa, insurance, accommodation and nutrition are the most important aspects that can be negotiated. Most acrobats said that they usually get contracts where everything is included unless they organize a tour themselves.
“Sometimes it works too easy, too easy, you can use your own money for insurance, visa and everything. But you know, since this guy is taking you to perform in his company, what you do, he takes care of everything, sometimes, he has to, he takes care of everything.” – Charles, acrobat.
Generally, they negotiate strictly about what they earn and how much they want. Bruce said that he sometimes performs in shows abroad that have not been planned ahead of time. This means that costs such as payments for visas and flight tickets need to be paid by the acrobats themselves. He said that in case he is in a team of four, they divide the money into five shares and the fifth share of the money goes towards the team’s costs. A challenge that was identified for local shows was that because acrobats often come from the slums, there are some acrobats who are willing to be paid lower wages than others and therefore secure the job. Additionally, something that stood out to me was the need for an insurance within the contract itself. This is because when I asked the acrobats about injuries, they all stated that they do not go to a doctor. Nevertheless, when they were asked about insurance for work abroad, all of them highlighted that it was extremely important. This shows clearly that even though their personal economic capital does not allow them to go to the doctor, when it is included in a
54 contract they still value it highly. This is because they are fully aware that their economic capital is dependent on their physical capital.
“I look for a good job where if I get injured the employer can take me to the hospital and I don’t have to pay the money from my pocket. People get hurt, they know, you have to be insured, like with just an ordinary job. So, we look for insurance.” – James, acrobat.
The way in which the money that the acrobats earn through their cultural capital is spent has a big influence on their overall quality of life. Due to this, they often diversify to create a more stable livelihood. Furthermore, they all expressed that they typically always have some kind of plan in mind of how they will spend the money that they earn from their next job abroad. Other ways in which acrobats choose to spend their money is to help their families. This is usually because they happen to be the main breadwinners of their family. The acrobats said this was both positive and negative. Most wanted to spend money on their family, but simultaneously they also want them to work for it the way they have.
“When relatives and friends know that you have been out traveling, they have a lot of issues lying and they will be like: ‘hey, you can help me with 50 dollars or your aunt’. All the problems that they have been having for me. Even that is my weakness for me and last time I said, I have to sort my own problems first because I have been sorting others problems.” – Bonny, acrobat.
The acrobats often feel pressure to keep their family satisfied as well. This is because they are part of their social capital and because, on average, they do have more income than them. Issa and James both mentioned spending their money on their family. Issa said:
“I plan to buy some cows and goats to make my mom so busy so that when I look at that I have done something.” – Issa, acrobat.
Other things the acrobats spend their money on are things that can improve their quality of life. Something that stood out for me when I was training with the acrobats was that many of them had bikes, they used these to get to the training site easily and to be able to travel to schools or areas where they coach. When I asked Charles about his finances the first thing he mentioned
55 was his bike saying: “My bike, a super means of transportation” – Charles, acrobat. Besides this however, they spend their money on their rent, nutrition, clothing, land and building a house on that land.
Mato: A team never lets you fall Given the complicated lifestyles of the acrobats and their inconsistent incomes, sometimes money management can go wrong. Therefore, the acrobats are very open to offering each other financial support. Bruce, for example, mentioned that because they understand each other’s situations very well, the acrobats are more likely to help him than his own family. Charles said that if he goes to training hungry and tells one of his teammates he will help him with some food. From training with the acrobats, I observed that they will not directly give each other money. Instead, they find other ways to help each other. Both Ali and Charles highlighted these methods with Charles stating:
“It doesn’t matter whether one has to be greedy, it doesn’t matter. You know what we do, for example, you see, we train in a group of a whole. And sometimes you can find a show, a show comes in, it only wants four guys. You know what we do… We select those who are down, down in money, yeah. They are the best. Then another thing that we do normally, if you are not the best, we try to help you a lot, a lot. If you cannot balance, if you cannot, you know, I don’t know, juggle, we help a lot, a lot, so when the show comes in, you are ready to go.” – Charles, acrobat
The method highlighted by Ali was a method I happened to get involved in as well. He called it “Choma” and translated it as a contribution, which I could describe as microfinancing:
“We contribute like 1000, 1000 each, maybe we are like 7 members, then we contribute 1000 each and we give Vero. Another way we contribute, we give Ali. That’s called Choma. (…) Yeah for example, so you can pay house rent, you can have money to eat, you can…” – Ali, acrobat.
On one of my very last days with the acrobats I was involved in something very similar. Since a few days I had noticed that one of the acrobats, Mato, had not been very energetic and
56 had even been sleeping in the training hall. One day, at the end of training the team kept on having team meetings and leaving me out. Finally, Juma came up to me and took me apart. He told me that they had been having discussions on whether they wanted to include me or not, but eventually they decided that, as I am part of the team, I need to be included. It turned out that Mato, who also has a wife and child, had been having trouble paying his landlord the rent and because of that he had been sleeping in the training hall. As a solution, the team decided that everyone would contribute 400 shilling (3,36 euro) so that we could pay his rent for that month. Instead of giving the money directly to Mato, Charles collected it and paid the money to Mato’s landlord. This entire process was discussed and conducted together as a team. After that, the whole team went for lunch together in Kangemi to ensure Mato had a meal for that day. This event showed how the team truly works together to support each other and make sure that everyone is in good condition to train. It was also good to see that instead of giving the money directly to Mato, it was given directly to the landlord. This helped to prevent a situation where the money could have been mismanaged and ensure that it was used for its original intentions.
Sammy: Think big
“So, all that money, just do calculation, after that, do your plan, after creating your plan, then the remaining money, you can do that for yourself.”
Sammy was born in 1986 in Nakuru, North-West of Nairobi. He is the oldest of six siblings. At a very young age his parents split up and he made the decision to go with his mom. However, in 19996 he decided to start living on the streets because his mother was not able to take care of him. In the streets he was sniffing glue, taking bhang and cigarettes. Moreover, he turned to violence, threatening and robbing people in order to survive. Fortunately, he was eventually taken in to a children’s home called SCANN in Nakuru. Here he was able to get the opportunity to enroll in class four and ended up living in this refuge from 2000 to 2008. He stated that the children’s home was very supportive about gifts and talents. The lady that ran it, encouraged the
6 He said 1999 at one point in the interview, but at another point he said he was 9 when he lived on the streets.
57 children to speak up about their talents so she could acquire teachers to further nurture those talents. As a result, in 2004 Sammy started performing at the showgrounds, which eventually led to him meeting the president and going to China for training.
“Yeah in fact, I have learned in China. I learned about to be a coach, how to coach how to train people. How to start training people, that is the foundation of training. I have learned that. I have learned (…) how to make people to be disciplined. How you are supposed to introduce yourself to people, to public, how you are supposed to bring people together and tell them: let’s do this, not this. Yeah, so I am like counselling, I can do that also”
In 2008 the lady that ran the children’s home passed away and Sammy decided to join Sarakasi in Nairobi. He worked for Sarakasi for two years until he was picked up by Winston Ruddle from Mama Africa, a well-known circus in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Winston ended up taking Sammy to Germany for work and then to Tanzania to continue training and working. While Sammy was in Tanzania he performed with two of his best friends, until one day a lady saw a performance and particularly liked him. She said that she had fallen in love with him (she was a lot older than Sammy) to which he answered that he did not like her in that way.
“So, I’d say, me, I am not there, I want to work and help my family, my sisters and brothers, me I’m not there for love. So, she was: ‘Oh Sammy, because I love you, I open for you a job in Arusha!’”.
The lady took Sammy and his two friends to Arusha here she bought them a juicing machine and employed them to sell juice. She made Sammy the manager of the job and paid them good money. Indeed, Sammy’s cultural capital from his skills had led to social capital through his audience and then that had coincidentally led to economic capital from a job. The job however also brought something else, another skill that would be useful for the rest of Sammy’s life. “She is so clever in job, so she taught me how to manage the job, how to count money”. Later on, he continued to talk about how he is very good with money and learned
58 how to manage it. While he worked for this lady, Sammy was not happy and constantly looked for a way out. Eventually after an incident that made him feel uncomfortable, he found a way out. His mother in Nakuru had passed away and he had to travel there for her burial. Afterwards, he never went back to the lady in Arusha. Sammy states that throughout his life, part of his motivation to keep going and trying to seek new opportunities came from the fact that he was an example to his siblings: “Even if I was on the streets, I have to think bigger. My sisters and brothers look up to me, so what am I now going to do?”. After his mother passed away, Sammy decided to take care of his siblings because his father could not help them. Therefore, he took his brother to the children’s home where he grew up. One of his siblings is also an acrobat now and performing. Sammy used his cultural capital that he gained from training to get indirect economic capital by requesting the children’s home to take his siblings in exchange for him teaching the children acrobatics.
“I used to train the girls and boys so one day I took my sister to a children’s home and I talked to the director and they said if you have a sister just bring them, but I won’t be paying the money for teaching them. So, I was like okay, no problem, I just bring them, I won’t charge you for training, I’ll be training them for free. I used to train aerobics and insanity and acrobatics.”
His past with the lady in Arusha and having worked for Sarakasi as well as Mama Africa and abroad, has made him to learn a lot about how to manage his money. Acrobat’s money management is on two different levels. The first level is where they need to make sure that they can survive for a certain amount of time without having any work. The second level is when they invest their money so that they have a small, more consistent, income. Sammy described both levels nicely in his interview:
“Acrobatic in fact it has change my life, because so, in fact, it is helpful, it helped me a lot because the money I used to get I used to safe. You don’t have to eat all the money that you are getting. In fact, an acrobat is like a job, it’s a normal job, that people are doing. The problem with it is that you are getting a lot of money but have a plan of using that money that time, because after that money gets finished before you get another lot of money it takes time.”
59 Whenever he earns money he will try to invest it, for example by opening a business. Back in Nakuru, he was able to open a motorcycle (Bodaboda) business with the money he earned from acrobatics. He has three cycles each paying him 300 shilling (2,51 euro) per day providing him with a more consistent income. During the interview, Sammy went into detailed explanations of how he would divide his money if he earned 5000 euros and would have to survive three months on that. He said he would get cheap land, fence the land, open a small business and make sure he could still take care of himself and his family. He also mentioned that because he is a Kikuyu, he is smart and knows how to make all the calculations. Furthermore, he stated that some other artists from different tribes do not know how to spend their money.
Cultural capital Cultural capital is the capital obtained from time invested in acquiring certain skills. Cultural capital is the main type of capital that the acrobats obtain through their training, and it is their engine for accumulation of different types of capital. Since communication is a crucial aspect of training, good communication can lead to more cultural capital, thus, this section will start off with a communication section. Following this, will be a short overview of skills that acrobats develop. Cultural capital will then be represented through two narratives. The first narrative is about the wow-factor inspired by a quote from James. The second narrative is Bruce’s story because he uses his cultural capital to teach the new generation. This means that through teaching he does not only obtain economic capital but also social capital. He then gives the children he teaches an opportunity to develop cultural capital themselves.
Communication Through training, performing, and especially the team aspect of acrobatics, the acrobats gain well advanced communication skills. These communication skills vary widely between sounds that are being made, verbally and non-verbally. The combination of these makes training very safe, but more importantly, allows the acrobats to seamlessly improvise during performances (For audio-visual representation click here or scan the QR code).
60 There are four sounds that are mainly used during training, these are laughing, whistling, clapping and screaming. They function to motivate, encourage, applaud, in order to present and to notify each other to go up.
“In between pyramids usually the guys talk or maybe fool around a bit, but as soon as someone whistles as a sign that we are getting started, everyone has razor sharp focus and is ready to go.” – Diary entry, 12/02/18.
Whistles and screams were truly a way to get everyone attentive and hyped to gain energy to do pyramids or try new creative skills. An example of this is the following diary extract:
“When I was resting on the side for a bit, suddenly one of the guys started doing some acro across the hall. This was a sign for everyone to start whistling and screaming and joining in. Before I knew it, we were all doing crazy jumps, flips and saltos from one end of the gym to the other, with everyone cheering each other on.” (For audio-visual representation click here or scan the QR code), - Diary entry, 19/03/18.
Verbal communication goes from constructive criticism to methods used for training. When someone does not understand something, it is usually patiently explained. Throughout training, acrobats are constantly giving each other tips and corrections, improving their cultural capital. The acrobats also use jokes to tactically communicate things to each other that they are not willing to say directly, for example that someone is too heavy or too weak. During the warm- up the acrobats communicate by calling each other out or yelling at each other when someone is being lazy. In verbal communication, there are two terms that are crucial to safety in the job. The first term is “security” which is yelled whenever someone is doing something for the first time or when someone is unstable. The other term that is crucial and unique to acrobatics is “Soh”. “Soh” is the phrase acrobats use to signify that the base person is ready for everyone to go up. As acrobatics is often very dependent on having balance between different people, synchronization of going up on a person is crucial for the pyramid not to lose balance (For audio-visual representation click here or scan the QR code). “Soh” is also used to signify pyramids to go down. Moreover,
61 when someone in the pyramid is not feeling balanced or strong he will say it too. One training I experienced this:
“An interesting thing was that at one point when I was climbing on top, James, who was at the bottom started saying “soh”, I had never been in a top position before when someone said “soh” and so I had to go down. I started panicking a bit though, because I wasn’t sure how much time I had and how to get down as fast as possible. In the end it was all fine, but I am a bit mad at myself for not keeping my chill. After we were down, Bonny came up to me to explain to me that when someone says “soh”, you have 10 seconds to come down safely. It is good to know this, because of course when someone says it, you still need to make sure everyone who is high up can come down safely…” – Diary entry, 21/03/18 (For audio-visual representation click here or scan the QR code).
During training it is always super important for the acrobats to communicate about how the training is going, what everyone’s expectations are and simultaneously think of everyone’s personalities and moods. As Sammy points out:
“With a group, you can’t just go like and enter doing whatever you are doing. No, you have to start with them slowly, slowly, by slowly, understand each other. People are not the same, someone is very angry very fast, another one is angry but silent. You know, people are different so what you have to do is to cope with them. Slowly by slowly, you have to talk to them, show them how you are supposed to do this and this, don’t do this, don’t do this. Some of them, they understand, others don’t understand. So, what you have to do is just follow what they are doing. Communicate. That’s the word to bring people to understand each other.” – Sammy, acrobat.
Skills Successful communication within a team can lift the entire team’s cultural capital up to another level by allowing the acrobats to develop new skills. According to the acrobats themselves the most important skills that they gain through training are their inventory of gymnastics, circus, dance and acrobatics skills. Even though this was not initially what the interview question was aimed at, their answers do make a lot of sense as these are the skills that give them their income or economic capital.
62 Besides these more obvious skills, the acrobats also develop lots of soft skills such as discipline, perseverance, leadership, planning and money management which all contribute to their cultural capital. The acrobat’s discipline clearly shows throughout their entire training. Despite the lack of coaching, they always arrive early at training and start immediately. Throughout training nobody gives up and nobody complains. Besides, although there were no stuck training times, everyone would stay for about three hours and sometimes up to six hours doing routines over and over again. Almost all acrobats mentioned that they got their discipline from training. The acrobats show inexhaustible perseverance and hard work: “It’s hard work, and I don’t give up easily, and I will not give up. I will never give up.” – Ali, acrobat. This also shows through their life style, respect for others and how they carry themselves. As Charles stated in his interview, discipline is also important within the group setting:
“Discipline it’s for you. You see, it is for you. But you know, mostly when we come together to do like work practice, more practice, we do acrobatics, now that’s we apply discipline. That’s where now we have to make sure we are disciplined. We listen, and we have to be physically fit. Before we do anything, we have to listen. You know, that is it, that is it. But discipline mostly, it’s for me myself. If I am disciplined myself, it’s a choice, it’s a choice I make. I can make to be undisciplined, I can make a choice to be disciplined. But if we go to the area of acrobatics and discipline, normally because it’s something to do with trust, now everyone has to be disciplined. Maybe if one is not disciplined, it just has to grow. You know what I mean, it has to grow. Because if you do today, tomorrow, that kind of discipline stuff, you start growing. It grows and grows and then you get it and start being disciplined.” – Charles, acrobat
Leadership skills are highly developed and recognised by the acrobats. Generally, they mentioned they have always had these skills and have been natural leaders, though many acrobats teach acrobatics to younger children, further developing their leadership skills. This shows that these skills can help to diversify and accumulate economic capital. A platform in which acrobats use their skills is for raising awareness. The acrobats mentioned several different projects with one from Sarakasi, called Amani Amazina (meaning, peace is a must) standing out. The project was set up to reunite the people of Kenya through acrobatics after the post-election violence in 2007. In order to do this, they used acrobatics to raise awareness and create peace. Bruce was part of this project and stated:
63 “We were performing some acrobats to show them unity and how we are together, because we are different tribes in ehm this industry of art. So, we were like Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Kisii and ehm these big tribes were fighting. So, we were together from different tribes and when we performed, people were like: Ah this is really good, because how can someone go on top of this different people from different tribes.” – Bruce, acrobat.
James: Chasing the wow-factor For the acrobats, the most important part of their job is their performances and getting booked again. There are two main influences that stand out as being important for performances, these are involving the audience and creating a wow-factor. In this process, the acrobats develop different types of skills than during training. In order to perform well, many of the acrobats have had to get over their shyness. Part of their performance is to smile and interact with the audience and this has not necessarily come naturally to all the acrobats, for example Sammy said:
“The time I started with a lot of audience, I was scared, I was like, oh this, why this? I wanted to cry, like so scared, you know… But after adapting it, I was like, if I smile at you and you are smiling then I get you.” – Sammy, acrobat. For audio-visual representation of Dennis doing this skill click here or Smiling and making eye-contact is one of the most important things scan the QR code within their performances. Being able to overcome their shyness and earn confidence has not only helped them in their performances, but for example, Ali said:
“You know why I do that (he does public speaking jobs)? Since I started in acrobat, and performing in front of peoples, that shyness goes away. I have been performing for thousands of people, yeah so I’m not shy.” – Ali, acrobat.
To be booked again and stand out from other performers, the acrobats always need to chase the wow-factor and use creativity. James is the acrobat who calls this the wow-factor, stating:
64 “The wow-factor in acrobat come with a risk, because as the client, if they, that person who is seeing like these people are normal. That’s the wow-factor that is there, that is the risky part. If you can do something that, the beauty of acrobat, you do something that the other person is saying that can never do, cannot do. He is asking himself: How did he get up there? How did this guy just lift all those guys?! That’s the bigger bit.” – James, acrobat.
In order to create this wow-factor that sets them apart from others, the acrobats have to constantly renew themselves and be creative. They do this by using their imagination, looking at others or trying to recreate things they have seen on YouTube. Sometimes in training, we would challenge ourselves by making smaller teams and each team had to create a performance and try to be as creative as possible (For audio-visual representation click here or scan the QR code). These challenges always resulted in new creative ideas that could be further developed. The acrobats have to set themselves apart:
“Creativity, without that you… (I think he signed down). We still focus, you know, acrobatics doesn’t have competitions like dance or whatever, because it’s the same. But it's the, if people look at how you express yourself on the stage and what you can do with it, on the stage. Like, if you just focus on the old one, you will do only African acrobatics. But now through traveling and through training and through looking at performances, I have learned that ehm, if you fuse a lot of things, like a little bit of dance, a little bit acrobat, yoga. You need, and ehm, this acrobatics, it brings a different way of performance, and a new thing.” – Bruce, acrobat.
Bruce: Teaching the new generation Bruce was born in 1986 in Kakamega, Western Kenya. He mostly grew up with his younger sibling and his father because his mother passed away when he was 14 and his older siblings were already independent by then. Life for him was rattled with money problems and trying to deal with his alcoholic father. He ended up dropping out of high-school in order to provide for his family.
“So, when I dropped out of school, I started looking after my family and I did a lot of things that a man can do for his family and I always trained. I used to watch movies, most Vietnamese, Chinese movies, but I inspired me in my
65 acrobatic stuffs, but my acrobatics I got it from my mother. My mother used to do gymnastics at school.”
He went to his uncle who was supposed to employ him to do domestic work, but instead tricked him and only paid him 1000 shilling (8,52 euro) per month. He then moved to his maternal home to help his grandmother. His aunt saw that he was good at helping his grandmother and thus asked him to start helping her. She had kids of similar ages to himself, but these kids were misbehaving and so he started disciplining them which in turn, improved his discipline. Whilst doing jobs for his family, he continued to practice acrobatics. Eventually, in 2006 he moved to Nairobi to live with his brother in a slum called Kawangware. He joined Sarakasi where he trained and worked from 2007 to 2012. During that period, he did acrobatics, trained gymnastics and also did yoga in the Africa Yoga Project (AYP) and he learned to do traditional dance.
“And I have been in this industry for now, it is ehm, eleven years, full professionally it is eleven years, but I started practicing when I was very young. So, if I start counting from my young age, it is all of my lifetime.”
Throughout my talks with Bruce and training with him, what stood out most, was the passion he has for teaching. He developed a huge variety of skills and due to his past, he is great with children and disciplining.
“And ehm, acrobatics and gymnastics has helped me a lot. First it has helped me to change a lot of kids, because I love kids. Since I was young, I didn’t associate with my age-mates, I used to stay with my little kids. The little kids I used to work with, practice with, and they enjoyed my skills. When I used to practice they were like: ‘hee teach us!’”
Besides the performances, what he enjoys the most is to transfer his own skills or cultural capital to the children so that they can use that too. What stood out from his interview were the teaching techniques he uses. He said that through his training at Sarakasi and through traveling he has been able to pick up a lot of different skills and see many different teaching techniques. When he teaches kids, he asks them if they want him to tell them the corrections which is a modern way of teaching or if he should beat
66 them when they do it wrong, the old-fashioned way. They always choose that he beats them. But then he says:
“If I beat you, tomorrow I have to beat you, the day after tomorrow I have to beat you and you will never gain anything. What you will gain is hatred. You will hate me and you wouldn’t like me. But if I talk to you and I tell you the real thing, like you have do this and not like this, and I show you how to do it, you got it in your mind and you will remember it and try to do it the right way. (…) If I want the kids to learn better than I want them to, I have to lower myself”.
Throughout his life Bruce has been able to pick up personal experiences of training and experiences from others. This has all contributed to his cultural capital which he puts into practice when teaching children.
Social capital Social capital is described as the network that an individual creates when they become part of a certain group. The operationalization table shows how social capital can be both individual and collective in terms of the group. Generally, the acrobats did not often mention their social capital. When they were asked about friends being able to get them performances, they all mentioned that their friends did. However, these are often performances within Kenya and are therefore less valuable to the acrobats. Their focus is mainly to acquire performances abroad. This section will go into depth about social control and help through team work. It will analyze how tribalism affects the team and how networks can impact the acrobats’ lives. It will particularly highlight a part of Sammy’s story and how social capital changed Issa’s life. His story shows how even one connection can turn someone’s life around.
Social control and help through team work
“You know what I say always, I call them my brothers at work and I respect them more than I respect my own sister and my own brother.” – Bruce, acrobat
67 The closest and most valuable social capital for acrobats is their team. Almost all acrobats said that they see their team as their family and that their team would help them more easily than their own family would. This assistance can come in a variety of ways, such as, against addictions, financial hardship as well as mental and physical support in training. Although an addiction is something that the individual goes through, in acrobatics it can have adverse effects on the collective. This is because it becomes very dangerous to build pyramids with acrobats who might be under the influence and are thus less reliable. Ali recalled a specific event where the team helped one of the team members to get over his alcohol addiction because whenever their teammate came in drunk, they were unable to go on top of this person with confidence.
“Yeah we helped him to change because we always talked to him a lot. It’s not good, it will affect even your head. So, he have to change. If you really like this, what you’re doing, you have to change. You are the one who chose to come and you have to make this and this so you have to change so that you can continue. If you come with this problem of drinking alcohol and smelling like that, even audience will not be happy. If you’re performing then something small is smelling like alcohol, that’s not good. It’s not good even to the audience. So, we talk, we talk, we talk, but finally he changed. Yeah that’s how it was affecting me.” – Ali, acrobat
There are many other ways in which the team supports each other. For example, each individual in a team has a different quality and can thus teach the others new skills. This was specifically highlighted by Juma:
“Because it’s like, I’m learning like all the time, because when I come here, now it’s like we are a lot. And everyone has their own skills, you know, for example, you came here, you and you are good like stretching and blabla so you are good. I’m learning from you. So, it’s like, the more we are so many and everyone has other type of… We have dancers, the dancers who dance like the rapper songs, the break-dancers so I learn a lot.” – Juma, acrobat
As injuries are part of daily life for the acrobats, they help each other a lot in the recovery process. Julius said that he always asks others for advice. He knows that there are some acrobats, who have learned how to do physical therapy so they can help him with massages and getting
68 stronger. Moreover, some of them said that their team can help them financially to pay to see a doctor if necessary. Getting the team to function similar to how a family functions does not always come easy. It involves a lot of patience and interest in getting to know each other. Bonny elaborated on this:
“I had a meeting with them before we travel (the team). I said to them, we are not born from one family, so there is something that I can do that you don’t like, so just tell me and then I can learn what you like and what you don’t like and we can go along. But if I offending by doing what you don’t like and you keep quiet, we can’t go anywhere we had a fight. So, what we do is like, I know I have tried to learn each other’s mood sometimes and if I have something that troubles me I can talk: “Guys, today I feel like just keeping quiet and I have certain issues back home”, maybe you have been called with bad news and you are like guys… and they say, have your time.” – Bonny, acrobat.
Fighting tribalism by setting an example As Bonny’s quote shows, seeing a team as your family is not automatic. Especially in a world where tribalism plays a big role. For the acrobats in Kenya, intercultural understanding has a different meaning than what I initially assumed. Kenya is a country with 447 different tribes, often with friction between certain divisions. The acrobats can be perceived as advocates fighting tribalism through their art. When asked whether they mind that everyone within the team comes from a different tribe Ali answered:
“Nonono, we try also to make Luo, Luhya, Giriama, we are one people. We try to unite because if you do this (…) maybe in future our children will know, Luo is my brother, Luhya is my brother, Giriama is my brother, yeah so, we try to do
7 Most sources say that there are 43 tribes, but as of 2017 the Indians received individual ethnic status from the president and thus became Kenya’s 44th tribe. This information is derived from my local advisor: Solomon Mwanjala
69 something like that. Because if we’d have Giriama only, it would be tribalism. We want to be brothers and sisters together.”- Ali, acrobat
An outstanding story regarding tribalism came from Marion the managing director at Sarakasi a circus school in Nairobi. She mentioned that in the post-election violence in 2007 the acrobats would protect each other despite the tribal tensions.
“It was a very tribal thing, it was Luos against Kikuyus, we had groups that would consist out of 6 Luos and 1 kikuyu and they would hide their Kikuyu colleague under their beds at night, it was like they could go around and just flush out the Kikuyus on the Eastlands and flush out the Luos in the Westlands. It was crazy!” – Marion, Sarakasi
Sammy: Unexpected opportunities through a network To show how networks can truly lead to different opportunities, I want to further expand on part of Sammy’s story. Sammy lived in a children’s home for some time, where he was trained in acrobatics. In Kenya there is a place called “The Show-Ground” where agricultural crops are showcased. Within the show ground there is an arena for entertainment, where every year there is a performance for the President. In 2004 Sammy performed there for the first time with his team. Every year the President saw him perform until in 2005 the president approached the team and asked if they wanted to go to Japan for more training. Of course, the boys answered that they would be happy to do that. “We thought that maybe it’s just a joke, you know, these people joke with people, so we thought it is just a joke.” This journey to Japan did not happen, although the President did give them 20.000 shilling (168 euro). In 2006 Sammy and his team performed again at the show grounds for the President.
“He said: ‘guys, last time I said to you I’d take you to Japan, now I am serious, would you be happy for me to take you to China?’ Then he said China. Yeah, we’ll be happy. Okay, I will do a process for you. Then he decided the guys have to write down everything that we were talking. Okay, they write down bringing those things to the minister of culture here in Nairobi. Then the guys, they have to be serious, then we went to China in 2007. It was now a serious one!” – Sammy, acrobat.
Sammy ended up training in China for a year and two months, significantly improving his skills.
70 Through these types of journeys and performances at special locations the acrobats often perform for an audience from a completely different class. This allows them to expand on their network. Moreover, they do not want the audience to see that what they are doing is not completely effortless, as it could cost them a job. Juma said:
“Because when we miss for example, you make a pyramid and it is fallen down, and you have an audience looking at you. So, they will know that you are not perfect, even the boss, they… He can say that okay now, you don’t need to work again because you can get maybe hurt. I give you work, this like, I make you kill each other, so there’s no need to work! So, you must be perfect.” – Juma, acrobat.
If this perfection is achieved it can lead to more opportunities and a greater expansion of social capital. A lot of the acrobats, for example, mentioned attention from popular media and newspapers in Kenya and many have met the President. The acrobats make friends and build up networks all over the world which means that if they have problems, they are able to fall back on a world-wide network. Issa even mentions meeting and performing for the Pope
“I have been doing things with big people. I have performed for Pope, I have been there with Pope. (…) And to say the truth, the Pope came in Kenya. That year I was meeted with him.” – Issa, acrobat.
Issa: Finding a home Issa’s story is another special story, where social capital is what might have saved him from a very dark future. Issa was born in Murang’a county in 1993 as the oldest of four siblings. When he was six years old he started living on the streets
“When we lived there (with his mom) it was a big burden and when it came to there, I felt like I was giving a burden to my mom. Like, we were not good, not eating good like other people are eating good. So, I felt something and because of that peer pressure with other guys, so I escaped and went to the streets.”
On the streets he saw an acrobat doing a street job which inspired him to start doing contortion. As he was performing on the streets, one day someone from Sarakasi called James spotted him and gave him his phone number. As soon as he had collected enough money for a
71 payphone, he called James. James took him in and gave him some food but in the end, left again. Issa then lost James’ phone number and was taken to a rehabilitation center for street children in Kibera.
“At that time Sarakasi came with a project, they wanted to go inside, to people inside those centers (…) so they wanted to teach something there. And I was like, hey I want to do something and it was gymnastics, so I was lucky. At that time, I met with James again because he was a teacher at Sarakasi and he was a big person there. (…) I went to him: ‘do you remember me?’ ‘Do you remember you give me your number!’ (…) But what he told me, ‘hey I can’t help you inside, because you are in the government part now… (…) So what you can do, is escape…’”
Issa started thinking about this idea and planning a way to get out. He finally was able to escape and came back to the streets. He went to Eastlands because “I knew people who are gymnasts are Eastlands people”, to try and find James. He eventually found a group called “The Ghetto-girls” and asked them if they had James’ number. He got the phone number but James was performing in Kisumu with a group called “Nafsi”. After getting in contact James promised that they would meet when he was back. Finally, they met again and James took Issa to a place to eat, but instead of leaving him behind, he decided to take Issa to his home. James proposed that Issa should enroll at a center to go to school. He started taking him around different schools until he took him to a place called Kivuli center, an Italian missionary. Issa liked it and decided to stay. He was about 12/13 when he entered the center and was enrolled in class three, even though he was way too old for that. This is because he had never been in school and was thus very far behind. He also got the opportunity to continue his training and performances. Eventually, he was sent to Italy in 2008 to perform with his school. By performing in Italy, the missionary would get support and so the children would receive their clothing and food.
72 Indirect economic capital was derived from the performances. In 2008 when he had gone to Italy for the first time, the children had been divided up in two groups. These groups consisted of the best ones and the worst ones. Issa was put with the worst ones. Issa, as well as his teammates, wanted to be in the best and so they started training more and more and communicating and helping each other. He specifically noted in his interview that the other group that was the best, did not communicate with each other. Eventually, his perseverance and social capital is what helped him to get into contact with James and go to Kivuli center where he actually got help. He also got to travel to Italy many times and performed for impressive people such as the Pope. When I was training with Issa, he was working with Dennis and Sammy on a performance for Spain, where he currently is employed.
Symbolic capital The theory describes symbolic capital as a way in which someone’s perspective of themselves can be objectified. In the theory it is argued that symbolic capital is very important for acrobats because it partly drives the demand for their performances. James was one of the only acrobats who recognized this, saying:
“In acrobatics we need people, we need people so they can pay us, we need people to come to see us. We have to carry yourself around very well”. – James, acrobat.
He connected this with his reputation and the way others perceive him. When other acrobats were asked about their reputation, they did mention that it was important but at the same time they did not always completely understand the question. James talked about the pressure to keep the demand alive leading to the acrobats having to renew and reinvent their shows constantly.
“I have a certain dependency, I have a reputation. More and more, this is a competitive environment. It is entertainment. You have to come with something new, you cannot be boring, you cannot present the same thing. It’s like selling, I cannot be selling you the same, same thing because if you can get something different out there, you will go for that.” – James, acrobat.
73 Another way in which symbolic capital can affect acrobat’s lives is by their incapability to receive certain important documents that could help them derive different types of capital. Throughout his interview, Juma said several times that because he did not finish his education he is ‘nothing’, he does not have any certificates or diplomas and is nothing to other people. Nowadays, he realizes he is important because he has his work in acrobatics, but as acrobatics is not recognized by the government as a valid job, he still does not get any institutionalized recognition that could further enforce his symbolic capital.
Bruce: Forever young Through training, the acrobats gain a lot of energy and focus. This also goes paired with a healthy and young image, nicely put into words by Bruce:
“Because I, if I still can create some moves, gymnastics moves and acrobatics moves, then I feel like I still have the energy. And then energy makes me young, shows that I am still young and can do things.”
As the theory suggests, symbolic capital includes self-perception. Due to the physical capital of the acrobats they get a better self-image and confidence leading to greater symbolic capital. On top of this, performing for an audience can boost one’s confidence. While adding to the audience’s symbolic capital, they are getting direct feedback from the audience too, affecting their own symbolic capital. Dennis, for example, said that whenever the audience claps and appreciates, it makes him proud and he knows that he did something good, but when the feedback is not positive, he feels he needs to change something. This was evident in Bruce’s comments about feedback:
“Yeah ehm, in ehm, performances what I get a lot is confidence, and ehm also courage from the… to correct myself. Because when we are training you don’t see yourself. (…) But when you are on the stage, now you realize how audience are clapping and how audience are looking, the reaction give you another, different way, of ehm, like you have to do like this…”
74 Dennis: Getting a passport in a corrupt country Whereas the stories highlighted are about how capital helped the acrobats further on in life, Dennis’ story is more about how a lack of symbolic capital held him back. What makes Dennis unique from all the other acrobats is that when his interview took place, he was the only acrobat who had never travelled abroad. Dennis was born in 1991 in Mombasa, where he lived until he was nine after which he moved to Nairobi. When he was thirteen he left his parental home to live on the streets of Nairobi, in the Central Business District (CBD). This was because he continuously fought with his father. In the streets he tried to find small jobs like carrying water and collecting bottle caps. He struggled a lot until one day there was an event for youth in the city where artists were performing.
“I saw an acrobat there and I was very motivated with him because he didn’t do a lot. He did some backflip and I was better than him. So, the guys who knew me said: ‘Wafula, go, go, go and show him! He doesn’t know and he was hired to perform!’ So, I went and I did the best. Everyone liked me, even the boss said: ‘Wow, where were you? I hired him and he doesn’t even know. Come, I give you 5000 go again.’ I did it best, and they liked it, everybody! From that day on, I took acrobatics as my job and I decided to go and look for schools, someone who can taught me to the next level. (…) I decided to go back to the coastal areas because I knew there I used to saw everywhere in school see some people, so I went there back to search for them.”
Dennis went to Mombasa and after searching for some time he found a temple where he could live and train. He stayed at the temple training for a year and three months.
“I knew what I wanted to do there, I trained very hard, from morning until 10pm at night, that was the time I was closing my exercise. People were closing like 2pm, me I was closing at 10pm at night, because I knew what I wanted and for real it gave me my fruit.”
During his training he eventually met a girl and they started doing acrobatics together. They started performing together until they moved to Nairobi for a job at a hotel. Eventually the girl and him got married and got two children. They lived happily until one day she said she wanted to go home to Mombasa. She ended up leaving Dennis with one child and took the other
75 child with her back to Mombasa. Eventually, Dennis heard through gossip that someone had offered her a contract to work in America. However, this person tricked her because she did not have a passport and could have never traveled. After having worked at the hotel for seven months the contract ended and Dennis had to start looking for jobs again. He decided to stay in Nairobi because “in Nairobi they love the show”. This is an indication of the value that Kenyans give to acrobatics and the symbolic capital obtained from going to these types of shows. He ended up performing for free at hotels and clubs and lived from the tips that people would give him for the performance. He got invited for a job in China, but he did not have a passport and was thus unable to go. In order to obtain a passport, you need a birth certificate, and he also did not have that.
“So, I went to the migration area, they said: ‘go and look for birth certificate’. Here in Kenya, due to the high corruption, I have to look for money (pay a bribe), I say how much they are like 3000 shillings, oh my gosh, that money is very hard to get. Me, I just get my performance money, pay rent, just to eat, I sent my mom a little. Me, I remain with nothing, or just the transport to town to look for another performance. So, I worked hard, I got a birth certificate. I went to the immigration, but I registered everything even the visit for the passport, but when I went they say: ‘Not yet, not yet, not yet’. For two years! And I got a trip to Germany so I was like: ‘Oh my gosh, I have a trip to Germany, do it for me!’ They said: ‘What are you doing there? Passport is not easy to get!’ So, I didn’t get them clear, it was like they want money.”
Due to this, he never got his job in China or Germany. Later on, he got another trip, this time to Iran. When the person booking him asked for his passport he lied and said that he was not home right now but would send the passport when he was home.
“So, I decided to go to that boss I used to work for him. I went to him, told him, oh my gosh, boss, I have a trip to Iran, I don’t have the money to get the passport. He asked me: ‘oh how much does the passport cost?’ I told him for the beginning it is 4500 and then maybe for the corruption you add me 5000. He told me, how much do you need? I said 10.000. He counted for me cash money and gave me and asked me, when will you refund? I told him when I am done with the trip I will refund you the money. ‘Okay, but don’t refund the money, its okay, you’re a nice guy!’ He gave me the money just freely! I went to migration, I found a friend there who had passport, I told him, go and show me how you got yours. So he went, he showed me the backdoors. I went to give
76 them some money, money. In the evening, they called me, ‘Hello, come and pick your passport!’ Just because I removed the money…”
This took place in 2017, and although he had finally gotten his passport, luck was still not on his side. This was because for some mysterious reason he still missed the trip to Iran. After this, he got another trip, this time to the Philippines. Though, when it came down to signing the contract the boss said that they had to wait. A week later he said that the company in the Philippines was fighting with another company and so it fell through. When asked about his biggest dream Dennis answered:
“The way I am going to Spain, I see like, my dream has come true, because I wasn’t dreaming performing here in Africa alone, I was dreaming performing worldwide and to show everyone what I got. Because I don’t believe that only Chinese can do the best, even we Africans, we are the best.”
Luckily, Dennis’ story does end well. During the time I trained with him he was training for a show in Spain with Issa and Sammy. A month after I left the team, he finally made his first trip abroad and boarded a plane to Spain.
Physical capital As the theory did not go very much into depth on physical capital it will be further developed here, through the data that was collected. In the theory, physical capital was based off of Loic Wacquant’s bodily capital and it was focused on dependency on one’s body for their career. However, I added to that, based on the skills identified in the section on sports skills for acrobats, and how body weight and life style also contribute to physical capital. Part of the physical capital that the acrobats possess is the actual disciplines they are able to perform such as the building of pyramids, balancing acts and rope-skipping. For an audio-visual representation of one of these disciplines click here or scan the QR code.
77 In terms of physical skills that are specific to acrobatics, strength and flexibility highly stand out. A main part of the training every morning was the warm-up which combined conditioning, strength and flexibility.
“Eventually we started the warm-up. We ran lots again and I couldn't keep up for the entire thing. I felt extremely exhausted and on top of that I had a sting in my side which I just couldn't get rid of. After all the running we stood in a circle and did more conditioning. We did 100 jumping jacks and 100 switch leg things, then we did 100 more of jumping things and then 50 of each leg where you bent the leg and then kick it up while skipping on the other leg. It was pretty heavy and my sting was still bothering me. (…) After that we went over to planking and push-ups. I think the guys must have done almost 200 push-ups but I couldn’t keep on going because my shoulder was seriously bothering me and almost popping out with each push up. After all the push-ups we did lots of core exercises in pairs.” – Diary entry February 16th, 2018
These strengths can also be used outside of the acrobat’s training, not only showing the usefulness of physical capital but also how the acrobats are able to diversify through this capital. Many of the acrobats mentioned using their strength to save people or to protect others. They spoke of helping people who get robbed or saving themselves:
“Even now, if something bad can happen for me, if I walk I see a lot of ways that normal people can’t see, but for me, I am able to jump over a fence, maybe to safe my life. I can, remember, there was a place where it was burning and the people they didn’t have access to that second floor, so me, I used the pipe to climb up. I know where to step, but the skills that I have, I can use them in many ways.” – Bonny, acrobat.
It should be noted however, that whereas a lot of the acrobats talked about positive ways in which they can use their skills, one mentioned that when he lived on the streets he used his strength to beat up people for money (Dennis, interview). Another bodily skill essential to acrobatics is balance. In this case balance refers to both sense of balance to do certain tricks and go up on pyramids and the balance within a pyramid that is created by finding the right combination of people based on weight and strength. Furthermore, the acrobat’s physical capital enables them to do several things in one day while remaining active and alert because they have more energy due to their training. One
78 acrobat explicitly mentioned that because he keeps his body fit, he does not get sick easily and he maintains that body fitness through his training (Julius, interview). Being fit and having great physical capital does not only lead to accumulation of economic capital through performances, but also through other job opportunities. Dennis mentioned that he can be asked for performances in music videos, while Sammy and others, said that because they are strong and flexible they can be asked as security. James also said that he can be a fitness trainer. Finally, Juma recognizes that everyone within a team does have different qualities within their physical capital and thus everyone can teach each other different skills. Through this the individual as well as collective enhance both their physical and cultural capital.
Bruce: An injury can’t stop me Injuries play a very big role in any elite sportsperson’s life. This is also the case for acrobats, although they have a less conventional way of treating their injuries. Almost all acrobats said that they do not go to the hospital when they have injuries because it is expensive and because they always just tell them to rest. Two of them mentioned that abroad they had learned some types of massages which they now taught to the rest. In my period with the acrobats I saw a lot of the acrobats fall or being injured and I was injured myself as well. Instead of giving up, we massaged each other and sometimes took pain killers. Fitness level can also help prevent injuries. Acrobats are very well aware that they are dependent on their body and that injuries can completely render their accumulation of economic capital.
“I’m scared, yeah because it can make me bring back. I’ll be like, starting again to train because maybe you don’t know it can take long for injury to be recovered. That’s why I’m scared of injuries. I take care, I’m careful with injuries.” – Ali, acrobat.
This fear for injuries is contradictory because even though acrobats are scared of injuries, they do not go to doctors to get them checked. This is because they do not have the financial means to do so. Moreover, their physical capital/their body is what gives them their economic capital and thus they do feel the necessity to care for their bodies.
79 “If I get injury I used to go to hospital. But now, if it come up, we have medicine we have traditional medicine, that if you get broken here, the way I am broken here (points at leg), I just go to old man, I tell him: I have problem here, then without money, with his knowledge he gets the medicine from the tree, from the roots of the tree. So, then that guy give me, I have to rub, I have to rub for about 1 or 2 days and then it will be fine. But you know, that is not healing, that will not be healed, it just stops the pain, but after all, the problem will come back again. (...) But what I have now, it’s not that serious so when it’s not serious I have to do what I can do. But when it’s serious, I get sick and I am feeling not comfortable, I have to go to hospital, even if I like it or not. I have to remove that money. Because that body is the one that has given me that money, so why don’t you treat it. Next time it will give you money.” – Sammy, acrobat.
An interesting story that supports this, is Bruce’s story about when he got injured during a tour in Europe. During a performance his chest cracked and because it was abroad he was brought to the hospital. He was worried because he was scared that something was pinching inside. At the hospital, after an x-ray, they told him it was a crack in his sternum and that it was very serious and he had to rest.
“So ah, I said, only a crack! And then I gained courage and ehm, I was like strong again.” He has been there for a show with a team and he knew he was a crucial member to the team for the performance and so he said: “If I am not there, then they have to perform three of them, then it was like complicated for them. So, I said, ‘No I have to go perform’ and they told me, ‘no, you have to rest for two week’. Two weeks! No! So, I came from the hospital and then I performed that evening.”
The doctors didn’t understand why Bruce just kept on performing despite the pain, he told the doctor: “I have to do this, this is my job, that’s what brought me here.”.
Bonny: Utilizing his strengths Bonny is the oldest acrobat I worked with, being born in 1983 in Kiambu. One of his priorities in his professional life has been to be able to combine whatever side-hustle he is doing with his acrobatic training. In 1990 Bonny’s family moved to Nakuru to farm. He also worked on the farm, but his parents never supported him in anything.
80 “It is wrong to say this, but it is true, they never told me you can do this, you can do this. Actually, by the time I was moving, I told my mom, one day I will move from this, but he was like laughing haha you, you can’t stay away from me, because you can’t stand for your own, without me. And every time I was like… They never, never, never encouraged me.”
In 1999 he decided to move to Nairobi, but getting there was another story. Bonny used to be a good football player. He was the captain of the Nakuru team and when one day they won a cup, he received money for being the best player. He got 7000 shilling (59,70 euro) of which he gave 2500 to his mom and with the rest he decided to take the bus to Nairobi. In Nairobi he arrived at the bus-stop Nyama Kima and started walking until he arrived in a slum called Majengo. He ended up living on the streets with the street boys from that area. He started washing utensils at a small lunch place until one day a customer asked him if he needed a job. He said, he did and so the customer told him to be by his house at 5am the next morning.
“That man, he used to carry big bags of potatoes on the lorry, he dropped them here and then there was a woman who would take them. He said, hey, now you have to carry from this point to that point because the lorry can’t go through this (…) barrier. (…) He said to me, my friend if you give me that job, I will give you 500 and for me, because I got the job, I get a 1000, so I said yes. But the bad things was, when they lifted the bags for me and I got under, I collapse down. It was too heavy because they were very big for me.”
Because Bonny was too weak to carry the bags they told him to carry small luggage but due to his small posture this also did not go as well:
“So, the moment they put the first bag on top of me, I could only see the ankles of the lady. So, the moment I dropped the luggage after paying me, I was lost.”
He continued doing this work until one day he suddenly met his uncle on the street. His uncle told him where he worked and he ended up going there to ask for a job too. When Bonny got the job, they asked everyone who lives in Kangemi to stand on one side and all the other people on the other side. It turned out that people from Kangemi would receive lunch and bus fare, so Bonny decided to lie and join the people from Kangemi. The money for the bus however,
81 would not be divided and so, Bonny decided to follow the group to Kangemi. Since his uncle also lived there with two other men, Bonny was allowed to stay with them. This was not easy for Bonny because even though he had a job, earned some money and had a place to stay, he had to pay his uncle and his friends a lot of his money for alcohol to fund their addiction. He did not dare to refuse payment, since he needed the roof above his head. In the end, his uncle sent him away because he started hanging out with a friend and not paying for his uncle’s alcohol anymore. Bonny managed to save some money so that he could rent a house himself in Kangemi. After this, he had a lot of short and sometimes illegal jobs until he got into contact with someone who was in construction. During his job in building he met Bishop (one of the acrobats we trained with) who took him and another acrobat to start a group. He later joined the group Nafsi and traveled to Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia and Germany. Bonny often says that because he is the oldest he has a certain responsibility for the others and is approached with respect. During his interview his life experience stands out especially because he has learned certain things abroad that he brought with him to Kenya. Bonny’s biggest dream is that he is able to teach children in a safe space.
“If I am able to get mattress, I could be having the kids program here for acrobatics and gymnastics, but since I have been training on a hard ground for a long time, I have hardened my legs. So, my dream is that one day I can have those mattresses so I can give back to everyone.”
Bonny knows that he owes a lot of his success to his body. Even though his physical capital used to limit him in the sense that he was unable to carry the heavy bags as a street boy, nowadays he is strong enough and even has to decline security jobs. Through acrobatics he has been able to identify the types of physical capital that are unique to him and use these to his advantage.
82 Conclusion The stories of the acrobats all show how incredibly connected all the different types of capital are. They present how accumulation of one type of capital often leads to accumulation of another type of capital. In the end, this can lead to a positive cycle in which the end goal of gaining economic capital is satisfied. However, the stories also clearly showcase the role of each type of capital in acrobat’s lives and that standing alone the capitals also highly impact their lives. As is obvious from the acrobat’s stories, having a good contract to work abroad is extremely important for them. However, besides that, it is also very much about how they proceed to invest their earnings. By investing their money in rural areas where they, for example, buy land, build a house or start small businesses, it could be argued that they are enforcing a “trickle down” effect. Mato’s story shows the unique collective aspects of acrobats clearly. It shows that even though acrobats have individual economic capital, they can put it all together to create collective capital to each other. Moreover, it shows how an individual’s social capital, which in this case is the team, can lead to economic capital which in turn empowers the individual to start training again and thus accumulate cultural capital. Within cultural capital, there are a few factors that had a major impact on acrobat’s lives. Firstly, their communication is unique to the sport and allows them to not only be safe but also to improvise seamlessly. Moreover, as communication skills are always used in life, it is a huge benefit that they have highly developed this skill. For cultural capital, the actual skills that the acrobats have are the most important factor, these are obtained through hard work and endless perseverance. Such skills are useful throughout life. Bruce’s story of how he teaches the new generation leading to personal economic capital, shows that he is passing on cultural and physical capital through his teaching. Seeing the team as family shows how strong social capital is for acrobats. They work as a team not only to help each other, but also to show others that it is possible to work together with people from different backgrounds. What’s more, is that the audience can also influence social capital, shown through Sammy’s story. This ties back into the theory on the differences between sports and arts and the audience that they attract. As acrobatics is seen as an art, it even attracts
83 the President of Kenya, who then became part of Sammy’s social capital. This helped him to develop his skills and cultural capital, by sending him to China for training. Getting the opportunity to travel is already a big deal for many people in Kenya. Dennis’ story presents the difficulties of getting a passport and how his lack of symbolic capital held him back in life. Another factor that has this as a consequence, is the injuries which acrobats are very prone to. Finally, physical capital is the source of all the acrobat’s skills. Without it, they would have been very unlikely to develop the skills allowing them to have acrobatics as their profession. Bruce and Bonny’s stories both show how they know their own bodies and how they can utilize them in the most beneficial way, which is a quality almost all acrobats possess. Altogether, this narrative examines the endless connections between the types of capital and the methods to which acrobats accumulate and benefit from these capitals.
84 Chapter 6: Final Conclusion
Guided by the research question: “What are the skills that youth in Kangemi, Nairobi develop through acrobat training and how do these translate into capital that they can use in their lives?” this thesis shows how acrobats have both individually and collectively been able to accumulate certain forms of capital and how they were able to use these in their lives. The different forms of capital identified were based on Bourdieu’s theory of capital, being: economic, cultural, social and symbolic capital. To further expand on his theory, this research identified a fifth type of capital in the shape of physical capital, partly inspired by Loic Wacquant’s (2004) research. For this type of capital, emphasis was placed on strength, flexibility and other physical skills that acrobats develop from their training. One positive ramification of physical capital is that it produces skills that can be used outside of acrobatics. Examples of this in the acrobats’ stories were when they discussed opportunities in areas such as security, fitness instructor and even saving people from emergency situations. Thus, being an acrobat gives the youth a physical advantage that can be used in many different ways. Although the research did not focus on a comparison between the acrobats and other non-acrobatics youth, it became evident that the acrobats get opportunities that are rarely given to other youth with similar backgrounds. Moreover, almost all acrobats said that they earn more money than average and they were often the breadwinners for their families. When they compared themselves to their siblings, they would highlight their great physical condition, health and economic situation. As was emphasized in this thesis, acrobatics is both a sport and an art, which allows the acrobats to develop skills in both areas. This fact shows how acrobatics measures up to other physical activities that can be advantageous for youth. It is important to recognize that it is likely that any physical activity or sport will have a positive impact on youth’s lives. However, what makes acrobatics so unique is that it provides a wide variation of skills and due to its relation to art attracts an audience that is often from a different class which allows an exclusive development of social capital. Chapter four of this thesis looked at opportunities that the acrobats get through their talent. It should be noted that even if opportunities are rare, they can still accumulate capital by virtue due to their training and teamwork. The biggest and most unexpected opportunity is that they get to travel all over the world. It touched me emotionally to discover, while I joined the
85 circus in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that I had seen some of these acrobats perform when, as a little girl, I went to the yearly “Univé Gym Gala” (Gymnastics gala) in the Netherlands. It is incredibly interesting to see the background of these performers who are admired all over the world. A unique contextual aspect that stood out to me, is the way in which the acrobats deal with tribalism. In Kenya, tribalism sometimes leads to exclusion or violence, but the acrobats used their talent to create awareness of this and show that to them it does not matter what tribe someone is from. They did this by showcasing great trust in each other, independent of tribal relations. What mattered to them is the competency and ability of their teammates to perform the right skills. A remarkable event to note was the way the acrobats used their sport to bring people together and create a mutual understanding after the 2007 post-election violence8. Looking at how all these advantages play out in the bigger picture shows how the acrobats are able to have work in a country where unemployment rates are very high. When speaking of slums, people often speak of the poverty trap. The negative cycle in which people living in poverty can get stuck. A way to break this cycle is by the accumulation of capital. Acrobatics could possibly provide a low-barrier means to start developing physical capital as the training of strength, flexibility and balance does not require any tools. Once physical capital has been built up, it can help create an inventory of skills and thus cultural capital. My observations have shown me that the barriers in Nairobi to join an acrobatics team are fairly small. If an aspiring acrobat is willing to learn and work hard, they can join the team for training. As the research shows, being part of a team brings many advantages. The acrobats have a second family who supports them in many different ways and simultaneously can keep them on track in case negative factors start influencing them. Despite these low barriers to start training acrobatics and joining a team, not anyone can just become an acrobat. Besides talent, the acrobats also showed certain personality traits such as great dedication and perseverance. Moreover, the reason why people are willing to pay to see acrobatic performances is because they showcase unique talents. The performances present
8 After the presidential elections of 2007, severe violence broke out as a result of conflict between the Kikuyu and Luo tribe
86 skills that are often dangerous and that most people would not be able or dare to do. Another limiting aspect that became obvious from the research is that having too many acrobatic groups is not sustainable. The acrobats sometimes experienced extremely low pay in Kenya because they had too much competition and still needed the exposure of performing to allow them to broaden their social capital. Finally, there is not an endless amount of capital that the acrobats are able to accumulate for each type of capital. Although, they do earn good money and often have indirect economic advantages, it is unlikely that they will all become very rich from this single source. Moreover, their economic capital is very dependent on whether they are able to successfully manage their money or not. Through the time invested in their training to generate new skills, they gain lots of cultural capital. However, it shows that it can be difficult to be original in these skills, not only limiting their performances due to competition with similar skills, but also increasing the risk of trying out dangerous pyramids that could go very wrong and have an impact on physical capital. For social capital it is crucial that the acrobats communicate and lay a connection with their audience to be able to gain from this. The lack of recognition for acrobatics as a proper job and the fact that “the government scrapped art programs for the curriculum in schools” – Marion, Sarakasi shows the many ways in which symbolic capital has been limiting to the acrobats. For physical capital to be limited forever, only one small thing needs to go wrong in the accumulation of cultural capital and an injury could mean the end of a career. The great dependency of acrobats on their physical capital makes their job not only extra risky, but also limits the durability of their occupation. Most acrobats are likely to retire from performing at the age of 35, after which they could move on to teaching acrobatics. A completely different limitation to acrobatics as an occupation is the lack of involvement of women. Unfortunately, this research did not focus on this, or on reasons as to why almost no women are involved in acrobatics in Nairobi. Nonetheless, it should be highlighted that if there is a very big barrier for women to be able to join acrobatics, then this seems to only be an employment opportunity for men. This would be highly problematic and needs to be further assessed through future research investigating the gender dimensions of acrobatics in Kenya.
87 In conclusion, this research has shown that acrobatics can be a great skill to accumulate different types of capital that can positively influence acrobat’s lives. It shows how talent development can lead to artisan jobs that can lead to employment in a context where unemployment is very prevalent. Moreover, it leads to unique opportunities that many people with similar backgrounds can only dream of. However, there are also limitations in the extent to which capital can be accumulated. Though, within the context of the research in an area where greater structural processes are lacking, acrobatics can be a solution to accumulate capital and improve people’s lives. However, it is not the only way through which development can be build, rather, it could be seen as one small element of a big pyramid. Acrobatics can offer an opportunity for the acrobats to be seen as more than “nothing”, not only by others but also by themselves: it improves their self-worth. Nonetheless, as both Issa’s and Sammy’s story show, often a push in the right direction and some help from an institution is useful. Both Issa and Sammy stayed at an institution that helped them to develop their talents. Perhaps for this reason, when I asked Bonny about his future he answered:
“In the future I want to be trainer and also, I can learn how to find job online anywhere for people to perform. I will manage them and also, I will change the way that they are getting paid here in Kenya. I will try to make sure that the artists get the good cash so they can manage themselves like others.” – Bonny, acrobat.
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90 Appendix A: Overview of the interviews
Date Name Birth year (Age) Sex Location Method 16/02/18 James 1988 (30) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview 19/02/18 Charles 1986 (32) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview 20/02/18 Ali 1989 (29) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview 22/02/18 Bruce 1986 (32) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview 28/02/18 Juma 1990 (28) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview 13/03/18 Julius 1988 (30) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview 14/03/18 Bonny 1983 (35) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview 19/03/18 Dennis 1991 (27) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview 20/03/18 Marion - Female Ngara - Semi-structured Sarakasi Interview 21/03/18 Sammy 1986 (32) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview 23/03/18 Issa 1993 (25) Male Kangemi Semi-structured Interview
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