Sedite, D. et al.(2010). Perceptions of Staffriding in Post‐Apartheid South Africa: The Lethal Thrill of  Speed or the Masculine Performance of a Painful Past? JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY IN AFRICA , 20(4):581–590    University of the Western Cape Research Repository lclowes@uwc.ac.za Perceptions of Staffriding in Post-Apartheid South Africa: The Lethal Thrill of Speed or the Masculine Performance of a Painful Past? Dimakatso Sedite University of South Africa Brett Bowman University of the Witwatersrand Lindsay Clowes University of the Western Cape Address correspondence to Dimakatso Sedite, Save the Children, PO Box 14038, Hatfield, 0028, Pretoria, South Africa; S taffriding, or train surfing, involves taking life threatening physical risks by moving around the outside of moving trains. In aiming to better understand this risky practice, this small scale qualitative study used three semi-structured interviews and three focus discussions to understand perceptions of train surfing in South Africa’s Gauteng province. Semi-structured interviews comprised general station staff (n=2), and a station manager (n=1). The first two focus group discussions held were with ticket marshals (n= 6 per group, with a total of 12), and the last focus group discussion was with commuters (n=4), security personnel (n=6), and a station manager (n=1). Findings revealed that the majority of staffriders were perceived to be young, urban, black boys/men attending suburban schools. Tracing these identity co-ordinates against possible configurations of masculinity, we argue that train surfing represents a particular performance of risky, heteronormative masculinity forged within and against the historical, political and economic legacies that contoured apartheid versions of ‘black’ manhood. Keywords: Masculinities, risk-taking, gender, train surfing, patriarchy, race, performativity, railway injury, staffriding, urban transport A recent newspaper article reads thus : A 15-year old died while train surfing in Kempton Park on Wednesday morning. He was flung from a moving train … The teenager sustained possible head injuries, broken bones and internal injuries. He was pronounced dead on the scene. (Independent Newspapers Online, 2010). Railway commuting is considered to be one of the safest modes of transport in high income countries. However, studies in South Africa show that train transportation is characterized by a considerably high rate of injuries and death, and what has be- come known as train surfing certainly contributes to these statistics (Lerer & Matzopoulos, 1996). Train surfing entails boarding or disembarking a fast moving train (Lerer & Matzopoulos, 1996), riding on the exterior of a train that is travelling at high speed (Straucha, Wirthb, & Gersericka, 1998), or riding on the roof of a moving train (Sternick, Gomes, Serra, Radwanski, & Pitanguy, 2000). The practice contributes to high railway injury and mortality rates in Germany (Knecht, 1996; Straucha, Wirthb, & Gersericka,