Synopses & Reviews
Men and Development brings together some of the best-known academics, activists and practitioners in the field to present a comprehensive overview with original case studies from Brazil, India, China , South Africa, Malawi, Uganda and Nicaragua. The expert authors collectively present the central argument that mainstream international development and social policy has had little engagement with either patriarchal privilege or issues of male vulnerability, while within gender and development the "men as problem, women as victim" discourse continues to hold sway, and work on men and masculinities has failed to engage with efforts to change the structures that sustain gender and sex inequality. Addressing such issues as the relationship between domestic and communal violence and armed conflict, and including accounts of masculinities of men who do not confirm with the hetero-normative notions -- straight, as well as gay and transgender, the insightful and groundbreaking new book asks: what does it take to break away essentialist understandings of women and men without losing sight of structural inequities and inequalities? The result is a substantive and innovative contribution to current debates on men and masculinities, and an essential introduction and guide.
Review
"The useful volume casts the widest net to capture the range of men's political engagement around the world. From transgressive bodies to institutional obstacles to engagement and finally to the dynamics of engagement themselves, the authors offer a deft interplay between structure and agency, between context and motivation. Thus, they point the way towards deepening that engagement in this globalizing century." -- Michael Kimmel, Professor of Sociology, Stony Brook and author of
Manhood in America "This is an exciting and innovative collection. Through a series of case-studies, the contributors explore the links between constructions of masculinities, men's lives and the political and economic circumstances in which they live them. Its geographical reach, theoretical scope and engagement with policies for change is impressive: this book will prove to be a hugely significant addition to the expanding literature about masculinities." -- Professor Linda McDowell, University of Oxford "Development practioners have become very aware of the importance of gender, but in practice this means an almost exclusive emphasis on the disadvantages faced by most women. This book is important, not because it denies the realities of women's oppression, but because it points to the equal importance of understanding that even those men who seem to benefit from gender hierarchies are also limited and penalised by them. Drawing equally on theory and field experience, the contributors to
Men & Development have written a book that should be mandatory reading for everyone in the development world who says we need to bring gender into our work." -- Dennis Altman, Director Institute for Human Security, LaTrobe University and author of
Global Sex "
Men and Development provides a much-needed shift in masculinity studies scholarship away from the hegemony of the North towards men in the global South. Most importantly, however, the essays in this volume locate men's lives in the context of colonialism, globalization, heteronormativity, poverty, class-based exploitation, and institutionalized racism. If we are to create a more gender equal world, we will have to address privilege and oppression at the systemic level of many intersecting axes of power. This book makes a very important contribution to that transformative project." -- Professor Bob Pease, Deakin University, author of
Undoing Privilege: Unearned Advantage in a Divided World
Synopsis
A wide-ranging volume featuring contributions from some of today's leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of men, masculinities and development.
Together, contributors challenge the neglect of the structural dimensions of patriarchal power relations in current development policy and practice, and the failure to adequately engage with the effects of inequitable sex and gender orders on both men's and women's lives.
The book calls for renewed engagement in efforts to challenge and change stereotypes of men, to dismantle the structural barriers to gender equality, and to mobilize men to build new alliances with women's movements and other movements for social and gender justice.
Synopsis
Men and Development features an exciting collection of contributions from some of today's leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of men, masculinities and development.
Together, contributors challenge the neglect of the structural dimensions of patriarchal power relations in current development policy and practice, and the failure to adequately engage with the effects of inequitable sex and gender orders on both men's and women's lives.
The book calls for renewed engagement in efforts to challenge and change stereotypes of men, to dismantle the structural barriers to gender equality, and to mobilize men to build new alliances with women's movements and other movements for social and gender justice.
Synopsis
Men and Development: Politicizing Masculinities features an exciting collection of contributions from some of today's leading thinkers and practitioners in the field of men, masculinities, and development. Together, contributors challenge the neglect of the structural dimensions of patriarchal power relations in current development policy and practice, and the failure to adequately engage with the effects of inequitable sex and gender orders on both men's and women's lives. The book calls for renewed engagement in efforts to challenge and change stereotypes of men, to dismantle the structural barriers to gender equality, and to mobilize men to build new alliances with women's movements and other movements for social and gender justice.
About the Author
Andrea Cornwall is Professor of Anthropology and Development in the School of Global Studies at the University of Sussex. Jerker Edström is a Fellow of the Institute of Development Studies, IDS, University of Sussex, UK. Alan Greig has worked for over ten years as a consultant with community-based organizations and activist formations in sub-Saharan Africa, South and South-East Asia and the USA on the links between personal and political violence.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Politicizing Masculinity -
Andrea Cornwall, Jerker Edström & Alan Greig Part 1: Embodiments and Transgressions
2. Performing Heterosexuality: Male Youth, Vulnerability and HIV in Malawi - Chimaraoke Izugbara & Jerry Okal
3. Is s/he More of a Man? Constructing Masculinity as a Female to Male Transsexual in India - Cath Sluggett
4. Meyeli Chhele becomes MSM: Transformation of Idioms of Sexualness into epidemiological forms in India - akshay khanna
5. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Constructions of Masculinity and Contemporary Understandings of Sex Work - Cheryl Overs
6. Beyond 'Vulnerability': Men, Power and HIV - Jerker Edström
Part 2: Structures: Inequities, Violence, Power
7. Organized Powers: Masculinities, Managers and Violence - Raewyn Connell
8. What Would Make Men Interested in Gender Equality? Reflections from East Africa - Margrethe Silberschmidt
9. Men in/and Gender Equality: A Conversation from South Africa - Robert Morrell and Penny Morrell
10. Militarized, Religious and Neo-colonial: The Triple-bind Confronting Men in Contemporary Uganda - Chris Dolan
11. Local Lives, Global Dialogues: Shifting Discourses of Masculinity in India - Radhika Chopra
Part 3: Engagements: Changing Masculinities
12. Gender Regimes Changing Men or Men Changing Gender Regimes? Challenges for National and Trans-national Social Policy, Gender Equality and Organizing with Men - Jeff Hearn
13. Masculinities, Social Exclusion and Prospects for Change: Reflections from Promundo's Work in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Gary Barker, Marcos Nascimento, Christine Ricardo, Marianna Olinger and Marcio Segundo
14. Masculinities and Men's Groups in China: A Conversation between Activists - Fang Gang, He Xiaopei and Susan Jolly
15. Women's Empowerment: What do Men Have to Do with It? - Andrea Cornwall, Henry Armas and Mbuyiselo Botha
16. 'Swimming Against the Tide is Easier as a Shoal' Changing Masculinities in Nicaragua: a Community-based Approach - Patrick Welsh
17. Anxious States and Directions for Masculinities Work with Men - Alan Greig