Rethinking Masculinities

Issue Editors:

Prof. Niladri R. Chatterjee

Professor, Department of English

University of Kalyani, Kalyani, West Bengal

&

Mahamadul Hassan Dhabak

Assistant Professor in English

Department of Basic Science & Humanities

B V Raju Institute of Technology, Narsapur, Telangana

Last Date of Submission (Abstract): 31 July 2023

Submit manuscript at: consortiumjournal@gmail.com

Website: http://consortiumejournal.com/

CONCEPT NOTE

As an emerging field of study, Masculinity Studies has been making waves in academic discourse since the 1980s. One prevalent misperception about Masculinity Studies is that it challenges or opposes Feminism. In point of fact, it is an extension of theoretical and practical approaches of Feminism. Masculinity Studies, like Feminism, critiques traditional notions of gender construction, norms of patriarchy and the social framework of power.

Gender is entrenched in social practices and becomes a crucial component of social and cultural norms and orders. Gender intersects and interacts with sexuality, caste, class, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, politics and ability. Masculinity is “a place in gender relations, the practices through which men and women engage that place in gender, and the effects of these practices in bodily experience, personality and culture” (Connell). In other words, masculinity is an ideology, institutionally embedded within a field of power and a set of practices engaged in by groups of men (Kimmel). Connell recognises four distinct types of masculinity, including ‘hegemony,’ ‘subordination,’ ‘complicity’ and’ marginalization.’ All forms of masculinities are in the process of ‘making and unmaking themselves through performative acts’ (Bristow). While Connell's definition of masculinity serves as a starting point, the concept of types of masculinity expects to be expanded upon.

In late capitalist and post-capitalist societies, a new generation of men has emerged who are less certain than their fathers and grandfathers about their place and function in society. The concepts of ‘crisis,’ ‘loss,’ and ‘change’ have attached with masculinity and these identities have become political identities. Conflicts and war between nations, militarism and fanaticism, migration and displacement, fascism and neo-liberalism have all become important lenses through which to examine and distinguish between various masculinities in the era of globalisation and post-truth. Women’s participation in the paid labour force, the rise of the nuclear family, the increasing rate of divorce, activism and women’s right movements, and the media’s ongoing focus on issues of gender equity have all contributed to a shifting social and familial landscape. This shifting produces multiple conceptions of ‘men’ in the contemporary period.

The editors of this issue invite innovative and fresh perspectives on the construction, reconstruction, and interpretations of masculinity by developing these new viewpoints through which to view masculinity. Academicians and scholars may employ the following subthemes for their writings.

Sub-Themes:

Dalit Masculinity

Queer Masculinity

Black Masculinity

Female Masculinity

Muslim Masculinity

Marginal Masculinity

Sports and Masculinity

Politics and Masculinity

Fashion and Masculinity

Violence and Masculinity

Fatherhood and Masculinity

Colonialism and Masculinity

Gun Culture and Masculinity

Technology and Masculinity

Homophobia and Masculinity

Postmodernism and Masculinity

The New Insights of Masculinity

Gender Violence and Masculinity

Superheroes, Comics and Masculinity

Media, Advertisement and Masculinity

Patriotism, Nationalism and Masculinity

Fanaticism, Mob Culture and Masculinity

War, Terrorism, Trauma and Masculinity

Literature, Popular Culture and Masculinity

Chronic Diseases, Disability and Masculinity

Caste, Class, Race, Ethnicity and Masculinity

Films, Web series, TV Serials and Masculinity

Bio-politics, Governmentality and Masculinity

Environment and Masculinity