Paper short abstract:

Contemporary urban masculinities in Africa need to be reassessed in light of novel modalities of information distribution and management that emerge with new technologies. Kinois men's strategies and tactics when transgressing "offline" boundaries of who is supposed to know what, will be explored.

Paper long abstract:

In the social media era, communication platforms such as Facebook and Whatsapp provide novel ways of imagining, representing and performing masculinity (kimobali), while at the same time also challenging received ways of being and/or becoming "a man". The paper starts from the premise that secrecy and management of information are fundamental in the performance of masculinity in Kinshasa. Kinshasa is a society where kipe ya yo sociality ("mind your own business") dictates a strong individualistic regime of managing one's networks and activities, while intergenerational and gender hierarchies impose certain people to exert control and surveil others. Yet, befriending relatives, neighbours, friends, and potential and actual lovers on digital media platforms entails disrupting conventional structures of accessibility, addressivity and information sharing. Case-studies of Kinois men's digital strategies and tactics when transgressing "offline" boundaries of who is supposed to know what will show that contemporary masculinities in urban Africa need to be reassessed in light of novel modalities of information distribution and management that emerge with new technologies. Attention will be paid to tensions between surface meaning and hidden meaning in digital communication, and offline practices of hiding, masking and revealing. The material provides insights in gendered dimensions of media ideologies and politics.