Masculinities

Abstract

The study of masculinities is a recent growing field in Anthropology. Within this growing subfield, one must be careful to study masculinities within wide circuits of power. By examining masculinities instead of masculinity, I center the social context and multiplicities necessary to ethnographically chart masculinities without falling into the trap of just centering male bodies and only the social practices of men. Masculinities must be understood in relation to colonialism, postcolonialism, imperialism, racism, heterosexism, and heteronormativity. Black feminist theory, women of color feminism, Third World feminism, and queer of color critique provide important theoretical tools in ethnographic research to decipher power and can destabilize singular, hegemonic Western epistemologies about masculinity. Through such a theoretical engagement, I showcase the complexity, multiplicity, and contradictions in the performance of masculinities in the global South, in queer of color communities, in Indigenous communities, and across various institutions in social life.Keywords global South masculinities, queer and trans masculinities, masculinities of color, queer of color critique, Black feminism, women of color feminism 1 I intentionally pluralize masculinities to showcase the heterogeneity, multiplicity, and hybridity within the category (Lowe 1996). I use the singular form masculinity in various places to signal its representation in essentialized ways in some social contexts.