Men between Worlds: Changing Masculinities in Urban Maputo (original) (raw)
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Philogynous Masculinities: Contextualizing Alternative Manhood in Mozambique
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Masculinity studies in Africa have often highlighted young men's tendencies to be dominant, violent, and selfish in relation to female peers. This article introduces the concept of ''philogynous masculinities'' as part of an exploration of more gender equitable tendencies among young men in secondary schools in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Findings from fieldwork in schools and student's neighborhoods reveal that understanding alternative notions of manhood requires sensitivity to the contexts in which these are accentuated. While the bom pico notion, stressing men's sexual satisfaction of women, received emphasis in the context of sex education, the ndota notion of restraint and antiviolence was activated under homely circumstances. Discussing multiple male subjectivities across contexts rather than classifying individual men allows for alternative configurations without ignoring their contradictory manifestations. The article urges masculinity studies to move beyond dichotomies between modern and traditional forms and to explore entanglements of hegemonic and alternative masculinities.
Sexualized bodies: Masculinity, power and identity in Mozambique
NORMA, 2012
Drawing on ethnographic work carried out among Mozambican men living in Maputo (the capital of Mozambique), this paper intends to describe how subordinate men from a poor background are reconstructing their masculinity through the explicit sexualization of their self. It has been shown that among poor Mozambican men the lack of money or other material goods is compensated by complex practices and a variety of discourses on sex and sexuality. Sexuality, and its bodily enactment, is then used to reconstruct a powerful sense of manhood, which may take a variety of forms ranging from identification with the norm of the 'good lover' to more struggle-based discourses. All of these strategies imply an explicit investment in various forms of 'bodily capital', which may lead to the building up of a phallocentric masculinity, though women's sexual agency is not ignored. In male discourse, a value is attributed to goods, whether material or symbolic, which function discursively according to an imagery of economic exchange as if the body were a commodity, a discursively constructed capital of manhood. Through a number of ethnographic examples, I will contend that we can consider masculinity as a complex structure of capitals that can be enacted in different spheres and with different meanings. As a result, different power hierarchies can be reconstructed and a degree of plurality may be incorporated into what we consider hegemonic masculinity. Sexuality and sex, while performed through a bodily hexis and discourses on power and control, are at the core of these processes and represent a vital constituent of the male self.
The article explores theoretical implications of sexual and violent practices among disenfranchised young men in Southern Africa. Ethnographic findings from Maputo, Mozambique indicate that massive unemployment caused by neo-liberal reforms have led to a growing number of young men basing their authority vis-à-vis women on bodily powers, understood as abilities and physique of the male body, rather than on economic powers and social status. While young men from the city's growing middle class enact hegemonic masculinities in relationships to female partners, by means of financial powers and adherence to a 'breadwinner' ideology, poor young men react to a situation of unemployment and poverty by enacting masculinities that are subordinate vis-à-vis middle class peers, but which find expression through violence or sexual performance vis-à-vis female partners.
CRIA-IUL December, 2016 iv v Preface and Acknowledgments: Zzzzzzzzzzzz... they follow me around, it's not just the exasperating noise they produce, but also the insistence on having a rest on my skin. I go in the water a lot, not only to free myself from the persistent flies but also to feel that warm embracing sensation, freedom from my own weight, like I'm being carried. In fact, the water is warm and at the same time refreshing. If I'm supposed to be relaxing, why am I biting my nails? Maybe it's time for another dip in the water. The lagoon is blue turquoise surrounded by coco trees. It is amazingly appealing, irresistible. I'm sweating, literally dripping. I think my skin might also be burning, the sun is strong. I should go in the water but instead I light another cigarette. I wonder, why it is that despite the perfect environment in which to relax, my thoughts seem to be running back to Maputo every five minutes. (Quissico, 17 Febuary 2012)
Eroticism, kinship, and gender all intersect in transactional sexual relationships between young women known as curtidoras and older white men in Maputo, Mozambique. I draw on postcolonial feminism to argue that curtidoras’ erotic powers are a central part of sexual–economic exchanges with men and that senior female kin are deeply involved in processes of seduction and extraction of money. I conceptualize relationships between curtidoras, female kin, and male partners as “gendered triads of reciprocity” to unsettle Western stereotypes of female victims and patriarchal structures in Africa. Transactional sex often makes the partners mutually dependent and emotionally vulnerable, and, although moralities of exchange collide, young women tend to redistribute accumulated money from men among female seniors and kin.
Nordic Journal of Migration Studies, 2009
The article explores theoretical implications of sexual and violent practices among disenfranchised young men in Southern Africa. Ethnographic findings from Maputo, Mozambique indicate that massive unemployment caused by neo-liberal reforms have led to a growing number of young men basing their authority vis-à-vis women on bodily powers, understood as abilities and physique of the male body, rather than on economic powers and social status. While young men from the city's growing middle class enact hegemonic masculinities in relationships to female partners, by means of financial powers and adherence to a 'breadwinner' ideology, poor young men react to a situation of unemployment and poverty by enacting masculinities that are subordinate vis-à-vis middle class peers, but which find expression through violence or sexual performance vis-à-vis female partners.