Men and Development

Reviews / Votes

Men and Development provides a much-needed shift in masculinity studies scholarship away from the hegemony of the North towards men in the global South. Most importantly, however, the essays in this volume locate men's lives in the context of colonialism, globalization, heteronormativity, poverty, class-based exploitation and institutionalized racism. If we are to create a more gender equal world, we will have to address privilege and oppression at the systemic level of many intersecting axes of power. This book makes a very important contribution to that transformative project. * Bob Pease, Deakin University, author of 'Undoing Privilege: Unearned Advantage in a Divided World' * Development practioners have become very aware of the importance of gender, but in practice this means an almost exclusive emphasis on the disadvantages faced by most women. This book is important, not because it denies the realities of women's oppression, but because it points to the equal importance of understanding that even those men who seem to benefit from gender hierarchies are also limited and penalised by them. Drawing equally on theory and field experience, the contributors to Men & Development have written a book that should be mandatory reading for everyone in the development world who says we need to bring gender into our work. * Dennis Altman, Director Institute for Human Security, LaTrobe University and author of 'Global Sex'. * This is an exciting and innovative collection. Through a series of case-studies, the contributors explore the links between constructions of masculinities, men's lives and the political and economic circumstances in which they live them. Its geographical reach, theoretical scope and engagement with policies for change is impressive: this book will prove to be a hugely significant addition to the expanding literature about masculinities. * Linda McDowell, University of Oxford * The useful volume casts the widest net to capture the range of men's political engagement around the world. From transgressive bodies to institutional obstacles to engagement and finally to the dynamics of engagement themselves, the authors offer a deft interplay between structure and agency, between context and motivation. Thus, they point the way towards deepening that engagement in this globalizing century. * Michael Kimmel author of 'Manhood in America', Professor of Sociology, Stony Brook, USA * Using case studies from around the world, Men and Development: Politicizing Masculinities makes gender visible in groundbreaking ways, and asks us, in no uncertain terms, to keep structural inequalities at the center of our praxis. An impressive array of scholars and activists from geopolitically diverse contexts bring our understanding of the theory and practice of masculinity to a new cutting edge. Provoking us to think beyond the limiting frames of current approaches, these authors rigorously challenge the binary approach to gender and the "heteronormativity" that continues to dominate the field. They invite us to understand "the radical promise" of the growing attention to men and masculinities as an opportunity for forging alliances for gender justice among people of all gender identities , pointing to new avenues for activism and action. Men and Development: Politicizing Masculinities is a critical guidebook for the next steps in our movement for gender equality. * Steven Botkin, Executive Director Men's Resources International *