Third age fitness: the connective materiality of a major movement in Brazil.

Abstract

Since 2006, simple outdoor gyms have been installed on public squares all over Brazil. From the beginning, they were mainly conceived as for use by older people - especially women - within an international movement of 'healthy cities'. Based on an ethnography in Rio de Janeiro, our aim is to show in particular the politico-commercial dimensions of the fitness equipment. By insisting on this way of articulating a material dimension of care, different kinds of connectivity are highlighted - something we want to call connective materiality. The juxtaposition of data gained through observations, as well as formal and informal interviews with politicians, equipment manufacturers, and aging users of such fitness spaces, enlarges the notion of fitness as a measure of self-care and prevention, and frames fitness as political and connective.