Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the intersection of masculinity with later year's experiences of selected elderly widowers in southwest Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

Maleness appears to be a lifelong status. This study explored the experiences, lifestyles and coping mechanisms of elderly widowers in selected communities in southwest Nigeria. Ethnographic data for this study was collected through in-depth interview and observation methods from aged widowers from ages 65 and above in three selected communities in Ekiti south west Nigeria. Findings revealed that over two third of the respondents have stayed without their spouses for a minimum of 10 years. A bulk of the respondents find it challenging without their spouses; a majority of the respondents attributed some of the challenges they face to loneliness and absence of somebody to prepare meals for them; others attributed it to lack of funds to meet their immediate needs, partial or complete loss of sight, strength and public embarrassment. On why they have not remarried; some of the respondents claimed they were willing to remarry and have made efforts in this regard without any success; the rest of the respondents however were not willing to remarry due to the challenges of meeting the cost of remarriage, lack of sexual urge and insistence of their children not to remarry. Findings on how they survive and cope with the challenges revealed that more than a half of the respondents depend on their children, siblings and well-wishers for support; while some visit public/market square, friends/families and religious places for relaxation. Elderly widowers face difficult experiences and not much attention has been focused on this powerless group.

Paper short abstract:

Research among gay men in Africa has documented high levels of stigma, violence and abuse directed toward gender non-conforming men. In this paper we explore how men who identify as gay in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania navigate legal and social structures that inhibit their sexual and gender identities.

Paper long abstract:

Research among gay men across Africa has documented high levels of stigma, violence and abuse directed toward gender non-conforming men. Building on these studies, we explore how men who identify as gay in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania navigate legal and social structures that inhibit their sexual and gender identities. As a consequence of their non-normative sexualities and gender non-conforming practices, they face violence from a state, which has declared homosexuality illegal, and also from other men and society at large. Using case studies from one-year of ethnographic research conducted among gay men aged 18 years and above in Dar es Salaam, we explore how they navigate their everyday lives in this structurally limiting context. In the midst of victimization and stigma they continue to find ways to create spaces to live openly as men who desire other men. They achieve this primarily through frequent and strategic movement within the city and via concealed modes of activism that make use of social media. In this paper, we argue that despite state and social strictures, gay men in Dar es Salaam find ways to disrupt norms, refusing to be controlled, while also demonstrating individual and communal plasticity, creativity and flexibility.

Paper short abstract:

Using empirical data obtained through ethnographic methods in a study aimed at examining masculinities and violence in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2017 and my experience working as quantitative data analyst, this paper explores how gender based violence can be viewed as a project of governance.

Paper long abstract:

Using empirical data obtained through ethnographic methods in a study aimed at examining masculinities and violence in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2017 and my personal experience working as quantitative data analyst, this paper explores how gender based violence can be viewed as a project of governance. According to Greenhalgh (2003) such projects constitute establishing the object of governance (the population) problem (such as violence), the solution (behavioural change) and implementing that solution among selected target population (e.g. men). This process has led to the construction of poor black men as the epitome of violence and in need of behavioural change, without necessarily addressing the political economic factors that breed violence. I divert from the common narrative of gender based violence as public health, human rights, development and more recently economic issue. While acknowledging women's increased risk in experiencing violence by men, it is imperative to examine how NGOs are perpetuating the violence narrative for their own interests such as to secure funding. Borrowing from critical global health studies, my aim is to interrogate the (mis)use of statistics in the process evidence making and in the construction of a violent black man. I argue for an ethnographic and people centred approach to enhance the process of evidence making in interventions that aim to address gender based violence.

Paper short abstract:

We address "aspirational masculinities" among male youth in Nairobi's informal settlements. Male youth aspirations are complex,fashioned at the crossroads of structural constraints and agentive projects for a good life, and simultaneously supportive and resistive of hegemonic manliness ideals.

Paper long abstract:

Building on recent calls for more focus on street-level optimism about life and the world, exemplified in the concept of ethics of possibility ('what gives lives a sense of purpose or direction or how people search for the best way to live—even in dire and hostile circumstances), we address the question of "aspirational masculinities" among poor urban young men in Kenya. Our data and material come from ethnographic work in two slum communities in the country's capital city, Nairobi. We use the term "aspirational masculinities" to describe visions of how urban young men living in Nairobi's poor communities anticipate being men. The young men we studied acknowledged economic marginality and adversity as constraints on their ongoing development into 'real' men. While constituting 'proper' masculinity in traditional terms of marriage; hardiness, provisioning; breadwinning; and self-reliance, urban Nairobi youth also aspired for masculine identities that border on caring, positive emotions, relationality, and the rejection of violence. The masculinity aspirations of poor Nairobi youth are complex; fashioned at the crossroads of structural constraints and agentive projects for a good life, and simultaneously supportive and resistive of traditional hegemonic manliness ideals. They are limited by and reflect an objective condition of everyday and enduring inequality while also signifying a deep unmet yearning for positive social and livelihood changes.

Paper short abstract:

This ethnographic case study asks how young instrumentalists perform masculinities in Accra. It explores their opportunities and constraints in creatively participating in the production of gender roles in popular music. Thus, dominant narratives of young African men as a threat are disrupted.

Paper long abstract:

Young African men are often not presented in a flattering light in academic and public discourses: Africa's growing youth is diagnosed to be "in crisis" or "in waithood", and in development and political discourses, the demographic overhang of young men is regarded as a major threat for outbreaks of violent conflicts. Case studies on violence and gangs engendered by youthful males are common. And in recent studies on popular culture, African variations of male dominated hip-hop have been criticised for promoting misogyny and other qualities associated with "toxic masculinity".

However, during my ethnographic fieldwork with instrumentalists in Accra between 2013 and 2018, I encountered numerous young men (aged between 20 and 32) who did not fit into those narratives. These instrumentalists, wryly naming themselves "shabomen", ambitiously pursued professional aspirations with high discipline, trained girls how to play musical instruments, and favored wistful romantic love songs. This paper therefore contrasts dominant narratives of young African men as a threat by documenting various other facets of young men's everyday lives. Furthermore, I critically explore the young instrumentalists' possibilities and limits in participating in the production of shifting masculinities in their musical practice. The case study links insights from studies on music and masculinity in Ghana (Asante-Darko & Van der Geest, Collins, Adomako Ampofo & Asiedu) with a perspective on the performativity of gender in popular culture (Butler, Leonard). It contributes to understanding unspectacular forms of the production of manliness, with a focus on alternative young masculinities.

Paper short abstract:

the study engages with how research participants navigate various normative assumptions about masculinities by exploring the everyday lives of Ghanaian-Dutch and Somali-Dutch men to understand their fears and expectations.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the ways in which migration contributes to ideas of masculinities among men of Somali and Ghanaian origin in the Netherlands. I examine how men reflect on their relations with individual members of their family specifically their children and spouse. I show how these men by engaging in this reflexivity, become opportune to deal with different expectations and responsibilities (from families, religious groups and the Dutch state) in a way that offsets some negative traits (perceived and patriarchal behavior) associated with men from Sub- Saharan African. Therefore, I engage with how my respondents navigate these normative assumptions by exploring the everyday lives of Ghanaian-Dutch and Somali-Dutch men to understand their fears and expectations. Depending on their circumstance, they are compelled to choose relevant, and creatively modify some of their long-standing family care practices based on their migratory quest. Drawing on 16 months of ethnographic research in the Netherlands , I uncover a dynamic set of familial practices, habits, relationships, and expectations people have developed over time and how it influences their perception about manliness. Through different encounters, I examine how men navigate immigration law, child care, spousal roles etc. in order to raise their children and maintain their families the best way they know how. The paper contributes to our understanding of transnational migration for migrants and their families, particularly for men, by examining the interplay among gender, family, and transnational migration.

Paper short abstract:

Has Kenya's "boy child" been forgotten? Drawing on 160 semi-structured interviews in rural and urban Kenya, this paper explores low-income men and women's perspectives on the pervasive, controversial narrative that "the boy child has been neglected."

Paper long abstract:

Drawing on 160 semi-structured interviews with men and women in rural and urban Kenya, this paper explores how low-income men and women use gendered language to talk about the economic struggles of poor men. I focus on the pervasive and controversial narrative in Kenya that "the boy child has been neglected."

Through this lens, I make three main arguments about how gender is used to talk about poverty. First, familiarity with debates around gender inequality have become pervasive enough that many respondents are able to adapt the language of women's rights to call attention to the needs of poor men. Although on the surface, the boy child narrative appears to concern boys generally, it is deployed only to talk about poor boys and poor men, seen as previously neglected. Second, because respondents have witnessed significant changes in the gender order while their economic surroundings, in contrast, have remained relentlessly harsh, it is understood that the government and international organizations care more about gender than they do about poverty. The boy child narrative appears to particularly resonate with men in their late 30s and 40s, who consider themselves to be past the stage of "youth" and responsible members of their communities.

Lastly, these simultaneous perceptions of gender progress and persistent economic hardship have transformed a simple phrase about young boys into a symbol of the complexities around introducing a language of gender equality into a context of extreme economic disparity.