Search

This paper draws on the geographies of emotion and masculinities literature to explore rural men's experiences of the 2016 Kaikōura/Waiau earthquake in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 men affected by the earthquake. Geographies of emotion enable reflection on the social context and individual circumstances of those impacted by natural hazard events, thereby contributing to understanding the way local constructions of gender influence people's experiences of disasters. The paper highlights how emotions are present regardless of how antipodean notions of hegemonic masculinity, reflecting stoicism and reserve, shape disaster responses. The research identified that two years on from the earthquake, men were still emotional when talking about the earthquake, yet attempted to silence their emotional distress. Through an analysis of emotion, men's hidden vulnerabilities and capacities, which are linked to sets of understandings about masculinities in place, are captured. This research illustrates the value of undertaking analysis of men's emotions in disaster spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vietnam's offshore fishing industry remains a space dominated by men, with fish work being tied to notions of what it means to be a man. This paper uses interviews data and participant observation to assess the ways in which masculinities shape and are shaped by labour relations in offshore fishing in Southern Vietnam. Findings show that labour relations are maintained through an emphasis on the abilities of men to do difficult physical work, behavioural expectations associated with masculine norms, and a homosocial bonding culture at sea, in addition to a bonding culture on land that involves drinking and women as entertainment. Multiple masculinities are identified with varying degrees of fluidity as informed especially by class and with dynamics differing at sea versus on land. In a context of fish stock decline and international pressure for strict fisheries reform, efforts to sustain an offshore fishing workforce rely, in part, on the reproduction of a particular local hierarchy of masculinities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Masculinities research has started to disentangle the gendered challenges men face after forced migration. This paper aims to contribute to this emerging work by exploring constructions of masculinities of young Syrian refugee men in the Netherlands. It builds on the accounts of twenty-two Syrian men between nineteen and thirty-five years old whose experiences were explored using in-depth interviews and walking interviews. Our respondents construct masculinities predominantly in relation to labour market access, paid work and perceived social status, however, meanings of masculinities are differentiated by age, social class, race, and religion. Hence, we illustrate how respondents use personal biographies and generational narratives to shape these masculinities in relation to a restrictive host society. We find that older, higher educated respondents shape masculinities in relation to status loss and unrealised aspirations emphasised by experiences of racialisation and marginalisation in the local labour market. We go on to argue that younger respondents, who did not obtain any higher education due to the civil war, seem more flexible in finding work. As a result, they are able to maintain more traditional breadwinner masculinities, masculinities they use to counter societal narratives in the Netherlands concerning Muslim men. Last, we demonstrate how these generational differences affect perceptions and performances of masculinities in relation to gender, generational relations and life course advancement. The paper emphasises masculinities of young refugee Syrian men in the Netherlands as geographical and temporal constructions, remaining highly nuanced, plural and contextual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dams are the biggest 'development' displacement agent. In this paper, we explore the gendered processes and structures of dam-induced displacement and resettlement on Indigenous communities and how displaced men conceptualise masculinities and gender relations within those communities. Drawing upon results of previous research undertaken in India and Malaysia, these two disparate cases allow us to examine how displacement affected men and changed their lives, and subsequently how they (re)constructed and (re)negotiated masculinities and gender-social relations in post-resettlement lives. We highlight two critical issues, namely, household and community land/resources, and compensation and rehabilitation processes to illustrate how gender roles, and in particular masculinities and men's roles, were transformed in dam displacement in both the countries, and analyse the consequences for women, family life and gender relations. We argue that the outcomes of gender and social asymmetries have largely depended on the realities of power, allowing men to reconstruct their masculinities to retain stereotyped notions of male superiority and female subordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the discursive and spatial constructions of female masculinities and femininities in separate networks for women forest owners in Sweden. Based on qualitative research conducted with members of six such networks, I explored the spatial negotiations and performances of femininities and female masculinities in relation to hegemonic forestry masculinities. I found that the separate spaces provided by the networks enabled the women to find strategies by which to navigate the spatial relations permeated by hegemonic forestry masculinity, which empowered them to resist the subordinate position of hegemonic femininity and to 'claim space'. The women claimed this space by asserting alternative femininities and performing embodied female masculinities conceptualized as 'the tough forest owner' and the 'entrepreneurial forest owner' to gain access to both symbolic and material spaces, including the category of 'the forest owner'. The performances of female masculinities were largely conducted from other positions of privilege, such as class and heterosexuality, which included performances of hegemonic femininity. Therefore, these performances of female masculinities generated status rather than stigmatisation. Furthermore, the analysis showed how these masculinities and femininities were negotiated and performed in relation to forestry spatiality as well as rurality and urbanity. I argue that the spatial performances of alternative femininities and female masculinities challenge hegemonic masculinities in a way that disrupts the male exclusivity of the category of 'the forest owner', although the performances of female masculinities also reinforce the superior position of masculinities in relation to femininities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Shaboman' is an ironic self-designated nickname, used by young male band musicians who rush from one gig to another in Accra, Ghana. Being active in diverse musical genres (gospel, highlife, brass, neo-traditional, [afro-]pop), they pursue professional aspirations with dedication, favor wistful romantic love songs, and train girls how to play musical instruments. As these young men present a contrast to dominant narratives on young African men, this paper aims to disrupt and complexify such masternarratives by documenting various facets of masculinities the instrumentalists (aged between 20 and 32) perform in their music practice. In the process, microprocesses of gender production in popular music are traced. Based on extensive ethnographic work in Accra between 2013 and 2018, the analysis draws on two distinct bodies of theoretical work: on cultural performance and performativity of gender in music (Butler; Madison and Hamera 2005; Livermon 2014a, 2014b); and on insights from studies on gender and masculinities in Ghanaian popular music (Asante-Darko and Van der Geest 1983; Adomako Ampofo and Asiedu 2012; Shipley 2013a). Contextualizing the shabomen's staged masculinities among a variety of other manly ideals in Ghanaian popular culture, I highlight how acts of maintaining and subverting gender conventions are intertwined in popular music practice. Furthermore, I depict how gender performances are linked to age group, and to place and belonging at the same time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how gender norms and expectations shape the migration decision-making processes of Cambodian young people, in a community characterized by high levels of migration to Thailand. Based on qualitative fieldwork with migrant and nonmigrant youth, I examine how young people make sense of migration and its local alternatives, and highlight the various gendered pressures that young people, and particularly men, experience for migration. Given the lack of local life-making alternatives that neatly conform to hegemonic masculine ideals, young men experience strong pressures for migration and encounter negative social judgments where they seek to stay put. In contrast, young women experience less forceful migration pressures, perceive meaningful alternative life-making projects in the village, and feel more free to actively resist migration. More generally, my findings highlight the importance of interrogating gendered processes of migration not only in terms of how they affect women and those who choose to migrate but also with consideration to how they affect men, and those who choose – or would prefer – to stay home. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Although recent work on masculinities has emphasised the complex ways in which masculinities are produced, performed and interpreted in different contexts, to date these insights have been given little consideration in relation to the process of ethnographic research itself. In this paper, I explore the negotiation of masculinities during fieldwork, with an emphasis on issues confronting male researchers who fail to conform to dominant expectations of ‘manliness’ which have currency in a given setting. I review how male social scientists have written about their fieldwork experiences, and note that many of these accounts in some ways serve to reinscribe the hegemonic masculine positions of their authors. Through a discussion of my own fieldwork with young people in a British voluntary organisation, I address how my masculinity was critiqued and policed, particularly by young men. I conclude by calling for a wider discussion of masculinities and fieldwork. However, I also note my ambivalence about writing the gendered self into research, if this means that those who conform to hegemonic ideals will be validated in reaffirming these identities in print while others are asked to expose the ways in which they fail to do their gender ‘right’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]