Raewyn Connell and the Making of Masculinity Studies in South Africa

in Boyhood Studies
Author:
Robert Morrell University of Cape Town, South Africa robert.morrell@uct.ac.za

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/bhs.2020.130209
Keywords:
Australia; gender activism; gender studies; Global South; intellectual history; masculinity
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Abstract

The study of masculinity in South Africa scarcely existed in 1990. A minor interest in gender was focused on women and inequality. South Africa was emerging from four decades of apartheid. It was into this environment that Raewyn Connell's ideas were introduced, adopted and adapted. Raewyn herself made a number of trips to South Africa in the 1990s and 2000s and found a ready reception for her theories about masculinity. South Africa was in transition feeling its way from white minority rule and authoritarianism toward democracy and a commitment to ending poverty, inequality, racism, and the oppression of women. In this article, I describe how Raewyn's idea energized scholarship, created a new research interest in men and masculinity, and contributed to gender activism.

Contributor Notes

Robert Morrell has been researching issues of gender and masculinity since 1990. Among his works are From Boys to Gentlemen: Settler Masculinity in Colonial Natal, 1880–1920 (2001): Changing Men in Southern Africa (2001), with Linda Richter: Baba: Men and Fatherhood in South Africa (2006); and Towards Gender Equality? South African Schools during the HIV/AIDS Epidemic (with Debbie Epstein, Elaine Unterhalter, Deevia Bhana, and Relebohile Moletsane) (2009). He has recently authored, together with Fran Collyer, Raewyn Connell, and Joao Maia, Knowledge and Global Power: Making New Sciences in the South (2019). Email: Robert.morrell@uct.ac.za

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Boyhood Studies

An Interdisciplinary Journal

Cover Boyhood Studies
Article Category:
Review Article
Page Count:
12
Keywords:
Australia; gender activism; gender studies; Global South; intellectual history; masculinity
Print Publication Date:
01 Dec 2020
Online Publication Date:
01 Dec 2020
Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020

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