Disappointed Men

Abstract

Masculine myths expose men to the possibility of failure and feelings of disappointment.¹ This chapter explores the significance of masculine myths in the memories of two men from the Windermere community. Their life stories are drawn from interviews I conducted in the course of my doctoral research. As described in previous chapters, Windermere was a mixed community on the periphery of Cape Town that began at the turn of the twentieth century and grew rapidly from the late 1930s until it was destroyed between 1958 and 1963. Black African residents who received permanent residence rights were removed to the townships of Langa and Guguletu, and those who remained were removed to the distant “homelands” of Ciskei or Transkei. Most coloured residents received housing in Factreton and Kensington, which by the late 1960s covered the spatial area once occupied by Windermere. Mr. G. B. (classified as “African”) and Mr. A. O. (classified as “coloured”) had been childhood friends in Windermere. In the aftermath of forced removals in 1963, they lived in separate, racially defined “group areas.”