Ezra Chitando – « Masculinities, religion, and sexualities »

A longer narrative is required to do justice to the complexity of masculinities in global scholarship.^[2] In this section, I seek to summarize the key issues in contemporary masculinities, illustrating them with examples from Africa (bearing in mind the reality that Africa is a vast continent characterized by radical pluralism). Thus, the dimensions associated with masculinities in Africa can be regarded as a useful indicator of the debates at the global level. To say this, however, is not to deny that masculinities in Africa have their own unique, but not exotic, characteristics. To begin with, there is an appreciation of the co-existence of ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ masculinities in Africa. These categories are by no means stable, as they continue to shift over time. For example, in their analysis of black (African) transnational masculinities, Dominic Pasura and Anastasia Christou highlight how the new setting in London challenges expectations associated with masculinity on the continent.^[3] As the African case study illustrates, masculinities are constantly being worked and reworked, refusing to be fixed.

One of the most topical issues in masculinities relates to their relationship with violence. Globally, there is an interest in understanding how masculinities are implicated in violence in general, including mass violence. Further, activists have drawn attention to the interface between masculinities and sexual and gender-based violence. Some men’s groups dedicated to campaigns against sexual and gender-based violence, such as the White Ribbon Campaign, have utilized insights from such studies. Although studies on masculinities and violence (including sexual and gender-based violence) are very informative, they do run the risk of writing off an entire gender as violent and retrogressive.

Alongside the focus on masculinities and violence, there is a growing emphasis on youth masculinities. The insight from feminist studies that one is born male or female, but that it is society that makes one a man or a woman, has drawn attention to the power of socialization in the construction of gender. Further, as Judith Butler has argued, persuasively in my opinion, ‘biological’ sex too is a social construction.^[4] Consequently, there has been an interest in how adolescent boys and young men understand and express their masculinities. Given the fact that there are many more young people than adults in Africa, there has been an investment in exploring the interface between young men and the construction of masculinity.^[5]

The role of religion in shaping masculinities has begun receiving due attention. The upsurge in the role of religion globally has discredited the secularization thesis, namely, the idea that as human societies attain high levels of economic development, religion would become less important and even disappear, and thus, religion has become a central concept in the humanities and social sciences yet again. In Africa in particular, scholars have been keen to identify the impact of African Traditional Religions, Christianity, and Islam in shaping masculinities.^[6]

Consistent with the growing focus on religion and masculinities is the emergence of a sub-discipline that has been called, ‘critical men’s studies in religion’. It is located within the larger academic study of religion but has the goal of isolating masculinity as a category of analysis for in-depth scrutiny. Whereas gender in religious studies has been largely associated with ‘women’s studies’, the study of religion, men, and masculinities endeavors to recover the original meaning of gender as socially constructed roles of women and men in society. Björn Krondorfer, one of the prime movers of the discipline, writes:

‘A “critical men’s studies in religion” approach is part of this larger mode of discernment; it asks questions specifically pertaining to men and masculinities in the religious traditions, querying and critiquing men’s identities and performances as well as assumed male authority and power. It can also include questions about male-gendered imaginings of the divine.’^[7]

Scholars within this field have been keen to identify the role of religions in promoting male dominance in society. They have also explored the patriarchal assumptions behind most of the world’s religions, alongside exploring how this has led to the exclusion of women from leadership in religious communities and society at large. In the context of African religious leadership, scholars have examined how notions of headship, appeals to sacred texts, and the ideological deployment of culture and tradition have been used to justify gender-based violence by men, as well as men’s leadership of institutions.^[8] Consequently, activists have called for more liberative approaches where religion can and must promote more life-giving masculinities. For example, the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, one of the most consistent groupings of academics dedicated to gender justice, has been insistent that religions must give birth to more progressive masculinities.^[9]