Rethinking The Man Question

The reality of international relations and its academic study are still almost entirely constituted by men. Rethinking the Man Question is a crucial investigation and reinvigoration of debates about gender and international relations. Following on from the seminal The Man Question in International Relations this book looks at the increasingly violent and 'toxic' nature of world politics post 9/11. Contributors including Raewyn Connell, Kimberley Hutchings, Cynthia Enloe, Kevin Dunn and Sandra Whitworth consider the diverse theoretical and practical implications of masculinity for international relations in the modern world. Covering theoretical issues including masculine theories of war, masculinity and the military, cyborg soldiers, post-traumatic stress disorder and white male privilege. The book also focuses on the ways in which masculinity configures world events from conscientious objection in South Africa to 'porno-nationalism' in India, from myths and heroes in Kosovo to the makings of Zimbabwe. This essential work will define the field for many years to come.

Are men naturally aggressive? What makes a good father? How can men form intimate friendships? In the new edition of this popular anthology, seventeen philosophers explore these and other questions that relate to what it means to be a man, including questions about pornography and homosexuality. New essays look at masculinity and violence, research on differences between men's and women's brains, impotence, sexual ambiguity, and whether black men have a moral duty to marry black women.

Originally published in 1998, The "Man" Question in International Relations looks the prevalence of man in the world of international relations. The book argues that, focusing on women as a way of changing the gender of international relations can position women as "the problem." The authors of this book suggest that the problem is not "woman" but "man." Rather than highlighting the absences and presence of women in the theories and practices of international relations, the authors concentrate on questioning the practices of masculinities, the hegemony of men, and the subject of "man." In this way, they hope to destabilize the field in ways that "adding women and stirring" has not.

A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year As seen on the Netflix series Explained From the best-selling author of Cosmopolitanism comes this revealing exploration of how the collective identities that shape our polarized world are riddled with contradiction. Who do you think you are? That’s a question bound up in another: What do you think you are? Gender. Religion. Race. Nationality. Class. Culture. Such affiliations give contours to our sense of self, and shape our polarized world. Yet the collective identities they spawn are riddled with contradictions, and cratered with falsehoods. Kwame Anthony Appiah’s The Lies That Bind is an incandescent exploration of the nature and history of the identities that define us. It challenges our assumptions about how identities work. We all know there are conflicts between identities, but Appiah shows how identities are created by conflict. Religion, he demonstrates, gains power because it isn’t primarily about belief. Our everyday notions of race are the detritus of discarded nineteenth-century science. Our cherished concept of the sovereign nation—of self-rule—is incoherent and unstable. Class systems can become entrenched by efforts to reform them. Even the very idea of Western culture is a shimmering mirage. From Anton Wilhelm Amo, the eighteenth-century African child who miraculously became an eminent European philosopher before retiring back to Africa, to Italo Svevo, the literary marvel who changed citizenship without leaving home, to Appiah’s own father, Joseph, an anticolonial firebrand who was ready to give his life for a nation that did not yet exist, Appiah interweaves keen-edged argument with vibrant narratives to expose the myths behind our collective identities. These “mistaken identities,” Appiah explains, can fuel some of our worst atrocities—from chattel slavery to genocide. And yet, he argues that social identities aren’t something we can simply do away with. They can usher in moral progress and bring significance to our lives by connecting the small scale of our daily existence with larger movements, causes, and concerns. Elaborating a bold and clarifying new theory of identity, The Lies That Bind is a ringing philosophical statement for the anxious, conflict-ridden twenty-first century. This book will transform the way we think about who—and what—“we” are.

This interdisciplinary collection examines the shaping of local sexual cultures in the Asian Pacific region in order to move beyond definitions and understandings of sexuality that rely on Western assumptions. The diverse studies in AsiaPacifiQueer demonstrate convincingly that in the realm of sexualities, globalization results in creative and cultural admixture rather than a unilateral imposition of the western values and forms of sexual culture. These essays range across the Pacific Rim and encompass a variety of forms of social, cultural, and personal expression, examining sexuality through music, cinema, the media, shifts in popular rhetoric, comics and magazines, and historical studies. By investigating complex processes of localization, interregional borrowing, and hybridization, the contributors underscore the mutual transformation of gender and sexuality in both Asian Pacific and Western cultures. Contributors are Ronald Baytan, J. Neil C. Garcia, Kam Yip Lo Lucetta, Song Hwee Lim, J. Darren Mackintosh, Claire Maree, Jin-Hyung Park, Teri Silvio, Megan Sinnott, Yik Koon Teh, Carmen Ka Man Tong, James Welker, Heather Worth, and Audrey Yue.

Masculinity, as both performed and studied, continues to be a particularly productive site for understanding cultural dynamics. Contemporary work within women’s and gender studies programs recognizes that potential, regularly exploring masculine, bisexual, and transgendered subjectivities in the classroom and in scholarship. This collection of essays on masculinity offers a unique perspective on the topic by featuring articles ranging from early work in biological science and gender behavior to contemporary sociocultural readings of feminist pedagogy, gender violence, and global masculinities. The anthology provides specific insight into critical conversations on masculinity as they have unfolded over time and in the pages of Feminist Formations. Structured around highly readable essays on a wide range of topics and disciplines, it provides a basic introduction to the question of masculinity before moving on to studies of masculinity, science, and the body. The volume closes with two parts that discuss performing masculinity in global and domestic contexts. This survey of masculinity relates to a number of diverse subject areas, including biology, film, literature, economics, and political science. As such, the book is ideal both as a primary text in women’s and gender studies courses and as a reference for faculty and students outside the discipline applying gender issues to their teaching and research.

Design for a democratic society was a matter of urgency in bombed-out postwar Europe. Swiss sociologist, journalist, professor and founding father of strollology Lucius Burckhardt (1925-2003) pioneered the interdisciplinary analysis of man-made environments, and thereby highlighted both the visible and invisible aspects of our cities and social relations. Acutely aware of how our interventions and decisions shape the world, and how the changing world in turn, shapes us, his life-long focus was not only the prerequisites of architecture, urban planning and design but also their long-term impact. Teaching and practice still owe much to his work. Thus, the first selection of Lucius Burckhardt's texts to appear in English, introduces his groundbreaking theory of environmental design, in retrospective tribute to a prescient thinker.

The performance of being a man, from the moment we open our eyes, until we gasp our last breath, is damaging us, and those around us. Phil Barker has written thousands of words about being a man in these strange and terrible times. As a journalist, he has spent years investigating the modern epidemics of suicide, domestic violence, pornography and misogyny, but also the essential bonds of male friendship, fatherhood and men's relationships with women. During this time, Phil found himself seeing what it is to 'be a man' in a completely new light. Men are forced into a performance of masculinity that is suffocating, limiting and damaging. The Revolution of Man shows us how to rethink what it means to be a man and urges men to reconnect with their emotions so they, and the people they love, can start leading happier, healthier and more meaningful lives.

Both Muslims and non-Muslims see women in most Muslim countries as suffering from social, economic, and political discrimination, treated by law and society as second-class citizens subject to male authority. This discrimination is attributed to Islam and Islamic law, and since the late 19th century there has been a mass of literature tackling this issue. Recently, exciting new feminist research has been challenging gender discrimination and male authority from within Islamic legal tradition: this book presents some important results from that research. The contributors all engage critically with two central juristic concepts; rooted in the Qur’an, they lie at the basis of this discrimination. One refers to a husband’s authority over his wife, his financial responsibility toward her, and his superior status and rights. The other is male family members’ right and duty of guardianship over female members (e.g., fathers over daughters when entering into marriage contracts) and the privileging of fathers over mothers in guardianship rights over their children. The contributors, brought together by the Musawah global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family, include Omaima Abou-Bakr, Asma Lamrabet, Ayesha Chaudhry, Sa‘diyya Shaikh, Lynn Welchman, Marwa Sharefeldin, Lena Larsen and Amina Wadud.

Vivid narratives, fresh insights, and new theories on where gender theory and research stand today Since scholars began interrogating the meaning of gender and sexuality in society, this field has become essential to the study of sociology. Gender Reckonings aims to map new directions for understanding gender and sexuality within a more pragmatic, dynamic, and socially relevant framework. It shows how gender relations must be understood on a large scale as well as in intimate detail. The contributors return to the basics, questioning how gender patterns change, how we can realize gender equality, and how the structures of gender impact daily life. Gender Reckonings covers not only foundational concepts of gender relations and gender justice, but also explores postcolonial patterns of gender, intersectionality, gender fluidity, transgender practices, neoliberalism, and queer theory. Gender Reckonings combines the insights of gender and sexuality scholars from different generations, fields, and world regions. The editors and contributors are leading social scientists from six continents, and the book gives vivid accounts of the changing politics of gender in different communities. Rich in empirical detail and novel thinking, Gender Reckonings is a lasting resource for students, researchers, activists, policymakers, and everyone concerned with gender justice.