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Exploring masculinities, power and patriarchy: the body, education, the family and the nation
REDI’s Diversity and Social Justice in Education research group hosted an event on 12 December that explored masculinities, power and patriarchy. The event comprised two presentations by international visiting scholars from the USA and UK.
The first paper was presented by Adam Howard and Lawrence Martin. Adam Howard is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Education and Chair of the Education Department at Colby College (USA). His research explores how privilege works through the daily practices and relations of privileged individuals and the structures, policies and practices of their educational institutions. Lawrence Martin is a research assistant in the Education Department at Colby College (USA) where he is studying mathematical sciences. He is also studying mechanical engineering at Dartmouth College (USA).
The second paper was presented by Jerker Edström who is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and leads the multi-country research programme Countering Backlash: Reclaiming Gender Justice, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
Paper 1. Impossible Love: Bonds of Domination within Elite All-Boys Schools
This presentation by Adam Howard and Lawrence Martin, drew from a study on the masculine norms central to shaping elites within American all-boys schools, focusing on how these norms influence the practices and relations of love often proclaimed within their brotherhoods. The speakers explored how these elite masculine norms reinforce power and domination, overshadowing qualities like accountability and responsibility. Using Bell Hooks’ insights on love, Howard and Martin argued that while these brotherhoods may outwardly embrace and celebrate love, the underlying dynamics of domination within these elite institutions fundamentally undermine the qualities necessary for authentic love. They concluded by proposing a reimagining of these brotherhoods—one that moves away from domination and embraces the responsibility and accountability that true love requires.
Paper 2. The Centaur’s Kick: Backlash as Disruptive Upgrades to Patriarchal Orders
In this presentation, Jerker Edström, discussed how patriarchal backlash is about much more than pushing back against progress for women. Sliced into three sections – on Confluence, Contestations, and Cartographies – this analysis drew on a thesis about backlash as the exploitation of insecurity wrought by apparent crises, to reshape society by fixing three symbolic sites – the body, the family and the nation.
Watch the presentations:
