Topic for Winter 2019: Masculinities
This course examines the “who, what, where, when” and perhaps most importantly, the “why” of masculinities. Researching historical definitions of masculinity while also attempting to define for ourselves what masculinity means in the present, this class will open us up to the many critical variables that contribute to the variety of masculinities, variables such as historical and geographical context, race, class, sex, age, ability, sexuality, or beliefs. We will locate the key sites in which masculinity is continually reproduced, both through the institutions that rule our life as well as in the realm of cultural representations. In doing so, will uncover many systems of policing and punishment utilized to bolster certain ideas of masculinity while attacking others.