Being A Man In A Transnational World

This book explores the masculinity and sexuality of migration, analyzing the complex processes of becoming a man and the strategies used by men to reconcile paradoxes and contradictions that co-exist between multiple masculinities and contradictory models of being a man. Vasquez del Aguila offers a number of conceptual contributions, including the notion of “masculine capital” that provides men with the necessary “masculine” skills and cultural competence to achieve legitimacy and social recognition as men; an analysis of male friendship where notions of solidarity and intimacy co-exist with those of distrust, competition, and power relations; and three social representations of being a man: the winner, the failed, and the good enough man. By analyzing heterosexual as well as gay masculinities, and incorporating race and class relations, this study shows the multiplicity and hierarchies of masculinities presented within a particular cultural context. Through ethnographic research undertaken over more than four years in New York and Lima, Peru, this book also examines the role of the Internet and transnational romances and the ways in which migration can create new opportunities for male sexual intimacy, while for others, it creates loneliness and isolation.

This book explores the masculinity and sexuality of migration, analyzing the complex processes of becoming a man and the strategies used by men to reconcile paradoxes and contradictions that co-exist between multiple masculinities and contradictory models of being a man. Vasquez del Aguila offers a number of conceptual contributions, including the notion of “masculine capital” that provides men with the necessary “masculine” skills and cultural competence to achieve legitimacy and social recognition as men; an analysis of male friendship where notions of solidarity and intimacy co-exist with those of distrust, competition, and power relations; and three social representations of being a man: the winner, the failed, and the good enough man. By analyzing heterosexual as well as gay masculinities, and incorporating race and class relations, this study shows the multiplicity and hierarchies of masculinities presented within a particular cultural context. Through ethnographic research undertaken over more than four years in New York and Lima, Peru, this book also examines the role of the Internet and transnational romances and the ways in which migration can create new opportunities for male sexual intimacy, while for others, it creates loneliness and isolation.

The world is becoming more transnational. This edited collection examines how the immense transnational changes in the contemporary world are being produced by and are affecting different men and masculinities. It seeks to shift debates on men, masculinities and gender relations from the strictly local and national context to much greater concern with the transnational and global. Established and rising scholars from Asia, Australia, Europe and North America explore subjects including economies and business corporations; sexualities and the sex trade; information and communication technologies and cyberspace; migration; war, the military and militarism; politics; nationalism; and symbolism and image-making.

Men of the World will be seized upon by academics and activists facing up to the persistence, proliferation and transnationalization of patriarchies. - Cynthia Cockburn, City University, London and University of Warwick "This is an important, thought-provoking and incredibly timely book from one of the leading scholars in the field of men and masculinities. I cannot praise this wonderful book highly enough." - Richard Collier, Newcastle University "In this lively and engaging new book, Hearn looks back over nearly 40 years in feminist-framed studies of men and masculinities, and also forward to the futuristic scenarios through which gender power is currently evolving in transpatriarchal contexts." - Terrell Carver, University of Bristol What have men and globalization got to do with each other? How are men shaping and being shaped by globalization? How is globalization gendered? Why do many books on globalization fail to discuss gender relations? And why do many of those that do omit an explicit and developed analysis of men and gender relations? Men of the World brings together autobiographical reflections and memories on changing personal locations, contemporary empirical studies on major power processes, and up to date theoretical development. It considers the implications of debates on globalization for analyzing men, and the implications of debates on men and masculinities for globalization, transnational change and transnational patriarchies, as part of engagement and critique focused on the global North. Specific chapters address diverse transnational issues: transnational bodies and emotions in violence, violation and militarism; transnational organizing across states, big business, global finance, and activism; transnational movements in the environment, migration, and information and communication technologies and sexualities; and finally, challenges to the gender category of ′men′. An essential read for students and researchers of gender, sexuality, masculinity, intersectionality, and globalization across the social sciences. Jeff Hearn is Guest Faculty Research Professor, Gender Studies, Örebro University, Sweden; Professor of Management and Organization, Hanken School of Economics, Finland; Professor of Sociology, University of Huddersfield, UK.

Foregrounding the ways in which men experience transnational migration, Migratory Men: Place, Transnationalism and Masculinities considers how we conceptualise and theorise mobile men in a global context. Bringing together studies from around the world (e.g. Australia, Pakistan, Tunisia, Zimbabwe and Italy), this collection foregrounds how the transnational migratory experience profoundly reshapes men’s complex identity practices. Specifically, the collection highlights how transnational migratory aspirations and experiences often lead men to reimagine local patterns of masculinity and/or reaffirm prescriptive gender roles as they encounter new spaces/places. In presenting interdisciplinary research, the international scholars consider the powerful roles of economics, politics and social class in shaping masculinities. Furthermore, the contributors emphasise how men affectively and agentically experience migration and how interaction with new spaces/places can often lead to negotiations between disempowerment and empowerment. As such, this collection will appeal to both non-academic readers who share transnational migratory aspirations and experiences and academic readers across the social sciences with interests in gender and sexuality, migration and diaspora, transnationalism and contemporary masculinities. Chapters 13 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.

Unsustainable Institutions of Men examines men's dealings in transnational processes across the economy, politics, technologies and bodies.

The Cosmopolitan Dream presents the broad patterns in the transformations of mainland Chinese masculinity over recent years, covering both representations (in film, fiction, and on television) and the lived experiences of Chinese men on four continents. Exposure to transnational influences has made Chinese notions of masculinity more cosmopolitan than ever before, yet the configurations of these hybrid masculinities retain the imprint of Chinese historical models. With the increasing interconnectivity of markets around the world, the hegemonic mode of manhood is now a highly mobile transnational business form of masculinity. However, the fusion of this kind of cosmopolitanism with Chinese characteristics has not diminished the conventional class and gender privileges for educated men. On the other hand, the traditionally prized intellectual masculinity in Chinese culture, which did not hold commerce in high regard, has reconciled with today’s business values. Together these factors shape the outlook of the contemporary generation of Chinese elites. At the same time globalization has increased the cross-country mobility of blue-collar Chinese men, who may possess a masculine ideal that is different from their white-collar counterparts. Therefore it is important to examine various types of masculinity with the recent, reform-era mainland Chinese migration. The migrant man—whether he is a worker, student, pop idol, or writer (all cases studied in this volume)—could face challenges to his masculinity based on his race, class, intimate partners, or fatherhood. The strategies adopted by the Chinese men to reinvent their masculine identities in these stories offer much insight into the complex connections between masculinity and the rapid socioeconomic developments of postsocialist China. “The Cosmopolitan Dream provides a rich and multidisciplinary window into how Chinese masculinities are both shaping and being shaped by a new era of globalization, one in which circulations of Chinese capital, images, and people play an ever more important role. This is an insightful and engaging work that makes important contributions to the study of media, gender, migration, and globalization more broadly.” —John Osburg, University of Rochester “A pioneering contribution toward understanding transnational Chinese masculinities. Covering both imagined representations and the actual experience of migrating Chinese men, this volume is definitely greater than the sum of its parts in conveying the contents and significance of cosmopolitanism to Chinese masculinities.” —Harriet Zurndorfer, Leiden University

In a film career that spanned five decades, John Wayne became a U.S. icon of heroic individualism and rugged masculinity. His widespread popularity, however, was not limited to the United States: he was beloved among moviegoers in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. In John Wayne’s World, Russell Meeuf considers the actor’s global popularity and makes the case that Wayne’s depictions of masculinity in his most popular films of the 1950s reflected the turbulent social disruptions of global capitalism and modernization taking place in that decade. John Wayne’s World places Wayne at the center of gender- and nation-based ideologies, opening a dialogue between film history, gender studies, political and economic history, and popular culture. Moving chronologically, Meeuf provides new readings of Fort Apache, Red River, Hondo, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, and The Alamo and connects Wayne’s characters with a modern, transnational masculinity being reimagined after World War II. Considering Wayne’s international productions, such as Legend of the Lost and The Barbarian and the Geisha, Meeuf shows how they resonated with U.S. ideological positions about Africa and Asia. Meeuf concludes that, in his later films, Wayne’s star text shifted to one of grandfatherly nostalgia for the past, as his earlier brand of heroic masculinity became incompatible with the changing world of the 1960s and 1970s. The first academic book-length study of John Wayne in more than twenty years, John Wayne’s World reveals a frequently overlooked history behind one of Hollywood’s most iconic stars.