Men in the Land of Promise: Immigration and Challenges to Masculinity in M.G. Vassanji's No New Land (original) (raw)
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Dislocating Masculinity: Comparative Ethnographies with preface to 2nd edition
Much recent writing on and by men suggests that male prerogatives are being sustained and lent authority by the new discipline of 'men's studies'. Dislocating Masculinity is an original and ambitious anthropological collection that raises important new questions about the study of men and masculinities. In a sustained cross-cultural enquiry, local experiences of 'hegemonic masculinity' are deconstructed to reveal the complexities of gendering and gendered difference. The familiar oppositions are analysed-male/female, man/woman and masculinity/ femininity-as are the other apparent certainties-that 'a man is a man' everywhere and that everywhere this means the same thing.
Dislocating Masculinity: Comparative Ethnographies
Much recent writing on and by men suggests that male prerogatives are being sustained and lent authority by the new discipline of 'men's studies'. Dislocating Masculinity is an original and ambitious anthropological collection which raises important new questions about the study of men and masculinities. In a sustained cross-cultural enquiry, local experiences of 'hegemonic masculinity' are deconstructed to reveal the complexities of gendering and gendered difference. The familiar oppositions are analysed-male/female, man/woman and masculinity/ femininity-as are the other apparent certainties-that 'a man is a man' everywhere and that everywhere this means the same thing.
2012
This dissertation explores the formation of contemporary Punjabi Sikh masculinity in North India. Through fifteen months of fieldwork carried out in Chandigarh, the capital city of Punjab, I look at how young Punjabi men belonging to landowning Jat Sikh families develop notions of masculinity and migration. In addition to the traditional gender norm Punjabi men are expected to follow such as getting an arranged marriage, having kids, and supporting their families, most of the men I interviewed characterized successful masculinity as the ability to migrate abroad and become transnational citizens.
Masculinity in the margins: men and identity in the 21st century
2017
Constructions of masculinity in Nagaland have historically focused on stereotypes of a premodern, warrior savage. Early discussions are rife with ascriptions of primitiveness and a widely perceived adherence to 'headhunting' practices. Recent discussions of masculine discourses in Nagaland engage with ideas of manhood and masculinity as externally informed and influenced by these constructions, as well as Indian mass media, and national and international tourism dialogues. I argue that masculinity in Nagaland navigates myriad structures and scales of identity, involving shades of this externally drawn masculinity, as well as local configurations of masculinity that are less salient and 'loud', but in many ways are highly relevant to the changing nature of identity in Nagaland. Essentially, masculinity in Nagaland is fluid and dynamic, despite popular tourist and media rhetoric framing Naga men as cut from an ancient, temporally distinct, and savage stock. It is informed by these historical stereotypes, but also by contemporary politics and social issues. This is important for two reasons. First, it contributes to discussions of multi-scalar identity in Nagaland, how Naga culture is presented to the outside world, and the ways many Nagas perceive themselves in a changing Nagaland. Second, these identity structures shape identity politics and political outcomes today, a phenomenon that is part of larger local debates on marginality in Nagaland.
Fashioning Masculinities through Migration
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The vast majority of literature on migrant masculinities presents situations where migration challenges normative forms of manhood—“undoing gender.” Yet for the Romanians who come to London, migration has the opposite effect, as men are drawn into the wide and lucrative building industry. The article follows constructions of masculinity through an analysis of: (1) the working environment of Romanian men, generally characterized as ridden with risk; (2) the gender dynamics in the household; and (3) the temporariness of the men’s migration in London. The article demonstrates that, in this case, mobility does not entail a “gender compromise,” but a reinforcement of hypermasculine traits, necessary to succeed in an environment seen as highly competitive and risky.
Anthropological Engagements with Men and Masculinities
The Cambridge Handbook for the Anthropology of Gender and Sexuality, 2023
This chapter charts historical developments and central themes in the anthropological study of men and masculinities. As the chapter shows, this body of knowledge is not free of frictions and contestations. Early anthropological studies were often motivated by finding globally generalizable patterns of masculinity. Other research has broadened the focus by questioning coherent gender-identities, analyzing how masculinity constructs are shaped by ambivalences, transgressive practices, and intersectional complexities. To chart this rich body of knowledge, the first part of the chapter critically discusses early anthropological research on men and masculinities as well as concepts that dominated the field for a considerable time. The remainder of the chapter focuses on three prominent topics of anthropological masculinity studies: economic crisis and its effect on masculinities, sexualities and nonnormative masculinities, and the role of masculinities in the negotiation of boundaries between others and selves. The chapter argues that anthropological engagements with masculinity can productively trouble our understanding of what it means to be a man.
This chapter looks into the causes of behavioural changes among migrant Bangladeshi men after migration; especially changes in roles that they always considered are closely related to their gender identity. Masculinities inspire men to endure gender inequalities in the society. Therefore, one of the most significant causes of the chapter is to trace out the innate reasons of such changes, to plan some conscious actions that can be applied back in Bangladesh to challenge and change the prevailing constructs of masculinities to ensure a gender sensitive socio-cultural environment. The chapter reveals migrant Bangladeshi men’s support to the perceived gender equality of British culture and their will to follow such practice. This chapter finally argues that migrant Bangladeshi men in the UK adopt a new kind of masculinities that doesn’t have serious clash with the masculine ideologies that they had before migration and doesn’t challenge their hegemonic position in the family.
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The juxtaposition of reviews of three exceptionally articulate books on masculinity traversing the ancient, medieval and modern periods of India's historical past with an insight on the very changes and continuities of gender relations and studies.