“Elite but not elitist”: Negotiating race, place, class, and culture in public physical activity spaces

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study critically examines issues related to race, place, class, and culture within public physical activity spaces. Drawing on Fairclough’s (1992) three-dimensional framework for analyzing discourse and Neckerman et al.’s (1999) minority culture of mobility, we examined the historical narratives of founders and leaders at ALL4ONE (n=7), a free, Black, Indigenous, People-of-Color-led (BIPOC) fitness community based in San Francisco, CA (the original name has been changed for purposes of anonymity). The analysis revealed that ALL4ONE allowed members to navigate race and class-based tensions by discursively constructing a refuge to share cultural norms and experiences, strengthen in-group networks, and politically mobilize; nonetheless, its social space reproduced unintended discursive barriers in situations when in-group members wanted to engage lower-income co-ethnics, limiting the effectiveness of the organization’s missionary ethos—particularly regarding its ability to implement social justice initiatives and assert embodied power in dominant cultural spaces. Study findings highlight important nuances in how BIPOC communities navigate public physical activity spaces and challenge monolithic framings of race and culture in physical activity interventions.