Suchergebnisse

Knowledge production is dominated by publications in and from the global North. This has given rise to a concern that certain perspectives and agendas have global prominence whereas others, from the global South, are marginalized. Analyzing the publication record of Men and Masculinities with respect to articles authored by scholars from, or working in, South Africa, I argue that the journal, despite being founded, based and published in the United States, has a very good record of providing space for Southern gendered perspectives to emerge.

This article examines the work of six South African gender researchers working in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It suggests that their work should be understood as situated in terms of politics, educational histories, theoretical connections and transnational engagements. It reflects on whether this work can be considered an example of Southern theory, and in turn suggests that Southern theory should itself be understood in relational terms that acknowledge both geopolitical connection and distance. The researchers who were interviewed by the author all draw on a feminist language and conceptual toolbox initially developed in Northern contexts, but in the recent period modified and extended by engagements with postcolonial and other feminisms. The article shows how South Africa's repressive political conditions and deep racial and social class inequalities influenced the research. There was a strong link between anti-apartheid activism and research choices which reflected a battle for the inclusion of gender in struggles that prioritised the focus on race and class inequalities. Research was also shaped by the researchers' relationship to activism and their engagement with marginality stemming from histories of colonialism and imperialism.

In the last decade, South Africa has undergone a major political transformation. The ending of apartheid and the installation of a democratically elected, black majority government has had major implications for gender policy and gender relations in the country. This paper examines how men collectively have responded to these changes. It identifies a number of different men's movements and locates them in terms of their relationship to the goal of gender equity being pursued by government. It draws on the work of Mike Messner to suggest what contribution these movements might, or might not, make to gender transformation in the country. Finally, it examines the importance of race and the apartheid past to suggest that any analysis of men and gender politics should be sensitive to different understandings of gender and location within the current gender order.

Corporal punishment has long been the most common form of punishment in South African schools. Its widespread use undoubtedly influenced constructions of masculinity.