Dislocating Masculinity Revisited
School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, 4-5 July 2014
2014 marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of Dislocating Masculinity: Comparative Ethnographies, edited by Andrea Cornwall and Nancy Lindisfarne. Dislocating Masculinity was a radical critique of writing on and by men and drew on ethnographic and historical analysis to raise questions about embodiment, agency and the relation between masculine styles and social contexts. The book set the stage for a generation of scholars to investigate masculinity ethnographically, bridging various fields – gender studies, anthropology, men’s studies, sociology, psychology, cultural studies and others.
Our aim in this symposium is to convene a trans-disciplinary conversation about the contributions that ethnography can make to research on men and masculinities in a diversity of fields and cultural and social contexts. The symposium will consist of a mixture of forms of intellectual exchange that allow us to interrogate concepts and practices, and generate new insights. We will be joined by a number of foundational thinkers on men and masculinities, including Raewyn Connell and Mairtin Mac an Ghaill.
A Call for Papers We invite participants to write a short paper (2-3000 words) that can be circulated in advance and developed for publication after the symposium. Paper givers are encouraged to think radically about notions of masculinity and gender difference, and to make use of ethnography to engage empirically with conceptual insights, bringing to bear auto-ethnographic material from our own everyday experiences as well as from ethnographic fieldwork in diverse sites. We encourage participants to see ethnography as a method, not a disciplinary boundary.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to – female masculinities and male femininities; male bodies and transgressions; parenting and experiences of fatherhood; men’s friendships, associations and groups; and taking a new look at the ‘crisis’ of masculinity. In keeping with the spirit of Dislocating Masculinity, we would like to encourage paper-writers to locate their particular material on masculinity in the broader social context, and to give serious attention to the class and other structural concomitants of gendering and gender differentiation.
Paper proposals should be submitted by May 16th, 2014. Proposals should include a title, an abstract of not more than 300 words, 2 or 3 keywords, and a brief biography. Papers will be due by June 20th so they can be pre-circulated before the symposium, and should be sent to dislocatingmasculinity@gmail.com
Logistics: Participants are expected to arrange their own travel and accommodation. There will be a nominal registration fee of £30/$50. We have a small travel fund to support the participation of doctoral students from the global South that are currently studying in the UK. Visit www.sussexglobal.org/dislocating-masculinity for further information and to register.
Co-organisers: Andrea Cornwall, Nancy Lindisfarne and Frank G. Karioris