What do you think?
Rate this book
Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa
This collection is the first to analyze the concepts and issues involved in exploring African men and the constructions of masculinity in sub-Saharan Africa. Major themes include men as gendered actors, the social construction of masculinity, masculinity as a relational category, and hegemonic and subordinate masculinities.
280 pages, Paperback
First published June 20, 2003
17 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 26, 2009
I have marked this as "read, grad student," which usually indicates a selective reading for seminar discussion purposes (rather than a complete, cover-to-cover reading). However, my marginalia and highlighting suggests that I gave this an unusually thorough going-over, probably because the subject was so new to me that I felt the need to be as familiar as possible with the various articles.
I believe this to be the only book on African History I have ever read, and one thing comes across very clearly from it - the enormous diversity of African culture and the dubious nature of lumping it together as a single subject. Each author studies only a particular region of the continent and is very careful to avoid generalizing, as it is clear that the meaning of masculinity varies enormously from place to place. It includes examinations of the relationship between masculinity and missionaries, the position of black police forces under colonial rule, and a fascinating biography of a female leader who re-imagined herself as male in order to secure her power.
Although the book relies to some degree on feminist theoretical work on masculinity begun in the 1990s, there is relatively little discussion of this literature, even in the introduction. At times the concept of "hegemonic masculinity" is brought up without a really substantive account of its use in other literature, and used as a kind of straw man to say that things are different in Africa. Well, maybe, but it would seem that in order to challenge the concept, it is first necessary to take the time to understand it more thoroughly.
I believe this to be the only book on African History I have ever read, and one thing comes across very clearly from it - the enormous diversity of African culture and the dubious nature of lumping it together as a single subject. Each author studies only a particular region of the continent and is very careful to avoid generalizing, as it is clear that the meaning of masculinity varies enormously from place to place. It includes examinations of the relationship between masculinity and missionaries, the position of black police forces under colonial rule, and a fascinating biography of a female leader who re-imagined herself as male in order to secure her power.
Although the book relies to some degree on feminist theoretical work on masculinity begun in the 1990s, there is relatively little discussion of this literature, even in the introduction. At times the concept of "hegemonic masculinity" is brought up without a really substantive account of its use in other literature, and used as a kind of straw man to say that things are different in Africa. Well, maybe, but it would seem that in order to challenge the concept, it is first necessary to take the time to understand it more thoroughly.
Displaying 1 of 1 review