Feminisms

Green Intersections: Caring Masculinities and the Environmental Crisis

Citation:

Requena-Pelegrí, Teresa. 2017. “Green Intersections: Caring Masculinities and the Environmental Crisis.” In Masculinities and Literary Studies: Intersections and New Directions, edited by Josep M. Armengol, Marta Bosch Vilarrubias, Àngels Carabí, and Teresa Requena, 143–52. New York: Routledge.

Author: Teresa Requena-Pelegrí

Abstract:

This chapter addresses the issues raised by the interrelation between the studies on men and masculinities with environmental concerns and care. In the first one, "Raw Water" by Wells Tower, the aggressive domination of nature is coupled with the development of a hypermasculinity that proves to be ultimately destructive to both others and the environment. In the second case, Scott Russell Sander's nonfiction text Hunting for Hope, which constitutes a manifesto for engagement and responsibility for the world we live in, a meditation on the ways to build a masculine identity upon the foundations of care and restoration. The weight of the destructive responsibility men have historically had in their relationship with nature remains paramount in the shape of the impending economic, social, and environmental issues. The particular intersection between two different areas, gender and ecocriticism, has been accomplished by the field of ecofeminism, thus revealing the ways in which patriarchal attitudes have historically exploited both women and nature. (Abstract from Taylor & Francis)

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Men, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy

Year: 2017

Recreating Men’s Relationship with Nature: Toward a Profeminist Environmentalism

Citation:

Pease, Bob. 2019. “Recreating Men’s Relationship with Nature: Toward a Profeminist Environmentalism.” Men and Masculinities 22 (1): 113–23.

Author: Bob Pease

Abstract:

While feminist and profeminist scholars are increasingly in agreement with the thesis that hegemonic and destructive forms of masculinity are the source of current environmental crises, there is less agreement on how to address this issue or on the way forward for ecologically conscious and profeminist men. Some forms of ecofeminism essentialize women as being closer to nature than men, while arguing that men are closer to culture. There seems little capacity for men to change in this view. In a parallel development, some ecomasculinity theorists argue that the problem is not with the nature of masculinity per se but with the separation of men’s natural maleness from forms of masculinity that suppress their infinite capacity to care. It will be argued that such latter approaches espouse either an ecofeminine or ecomasculinist perspective rather than a social ecofeminist view. This article will explore the implications of the social ecofeminist critique (or what some writers refer to as feminist environmentalism) for understanding socially constructed masculinism, and what men can do about it, in the context of the social divisions between men across the world.

Keywords: environmental crises, ecofeminism, hegemonic masculinity, ecological masculinities, profeminist environmentalism

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism

Year: 2019

Clashes, Collaborations and Convergences: Evolving Relations of Turkish and Kurdish Women’s Rights Activists

Citation:

Al-Ali, Nadje, and Latif Taṣ. 2019. "Clashes, Collaborations and Convergences: Evolving Relations of Turkish and Kurdish Women’s Rights Activists." Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 21 (3): 304-18.

Authors: Nadje Al-Ali, Latif Taṣ

Abstract:

This article discusses the various ways the Kurdish women’s movement has impacted feminism in the Turkish context. Against the background of the problematic historical relationship between Turkish and Kurdish women’s rights activists, the article explores the shift in perceptions of, attitudes towards and relations of feminists in Turkey with the Kurdish women’s movement. The article shows that a ‘new generation of feminists’ in Turkey appreciates and is inspired by the Kurdish women’s movement, and rejects the Kemalist and nationalist undertones of earlier generations. Without wanting to belittle on-going nationalism and the rise of women’s cadres linked to the authoritarian Turkish regime, the article analyses the various ways the intersectional long-term struggle of Kurdish women is being perceived, recognized and critically engaged with by many Turkish feminist activists.

Topics: Ethnicity, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Nationalism, Political Participation, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: MENA, Asia, Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Turkey

Year: 2019

Reconsidering Nationalism and Feminism: The Kurdish Political Movement in Turkey

Citation:

Al‐Ali, Nadje, and Latif Tas. 2018. "Reconsidering Nationalism and Feminism: The Kurdish Political Movement in Turkey." Nations and Nationalism 24 (2): 453-73.

Authors: Nadje Al-Ali, Latif Tas

Abstract:

Feminist scholars have documented with reference to multiple empirical contexts that feminist claims within nationalist movements are often side‐lined, constructed as ‘inauthentic’ and frequently discredited for imitating supposedly western notions of gender‐based equality. Despite these historical precedents, some feminist scholars have pointed to the positive aspects of nationalist movements, which frequently open up spaces for gender‐based claims. Our research is based on the recognition that we cannot discuss and evaluate the fraught relationship in the abstract but that we need to look at the specific historical and empirical contexts and articulations of nationalism and feminism. The specific case study we draw from is the relationship between the Kurdish women's movement and the wider Kurdish political movement in Turkey. We are exploring the ways that the Kurdish movement in Turkey has politicised Kurdish women's rights activists and examine how Kurdish women activists have reacted to patriarchal tendencies within the Kurdish movement.

Keywords: ethnic nationalism, feminism, Kurdish women's movement, middle east, PKK, Turkey

Topics: Ethnicity, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Equality/Inequality, Nationalism, Political Participation, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights Regions: MENA, Asia, Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Turkey

Year: 2018

Men on the Hunt: Ecofeminist Insights into Masculinity

Citation:

Littlefield, Jon. 2010. “Men on the Hunt: Ecofeminist Insights into Masculinity.” Marketing Theory 10 (1): 97–117. 

Author: Jon Littlefield

Abstract:

This paper examines the various expressions of masculinity found in the deer hunting subculture by seeking insight from the feminist discourse on ecofeminism. In its broadest formulation, ecofeminism suggests that men have historically dominated women and nature to the detriment of both. Male dominance is seen as a result of social patterning that has promoted male hegemonic power and ideologies. This paper argues instead that a subtle and ambiguous set of behaviors actually define masculinity in this culture. The data are presented in the form of stories of four individual hunters with diverse expressions of masculinity. 

Keywords: animals, ecofeminism, Gender, hunting, masculinity

Topics: Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations

Year: 2010

Ecological Masculinities: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Guidance

Citation:

Hultman, Martin, and Paul Pulé. 2018. Ecological Masculinities: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Guidance. Abingdon: Routledge.

Authors: Martin Hultman, Paul Pulé

Annotation:

Summary:
Around the globe, unfettered industrialisation has marched forth in unison with massive social inequities. Making matters worse, anthropogenic pressures on Earth’s living systems are causing alarming rates of thermal expansion, sea-level rise, biodiversity losses in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and a sixth mass extinction. As various disciplines have shown, rich white men in the Global North are the main (although not the only) perpetrators of this slow violence. This book demonstrates that industrial/breadwinner masculinities have come at terrible costs to the living planet and ecomodern masculinities have failed us as well, men included.
 
This book is dedicated to a third and relationally focused pathway that the authors call ecological masculinities. Here, they explore ways that masculinities can advocate and embody broader, deeper and wider care for the global through to local (‘glocal’) commons. Ecological Masculinities works with the wisdoms of four main streams of influence that have come before us. They are: masculinities politics, deep ecology, ecological feminism and feminist care theory. The authors work with profeminist approaches to the conceptualisations and embodiments of modern Western masculinities. From there, they introduce masculinities that give ADAM-n for Earth, others and self, striving to create a more just and ecologically viable planet for all of life.
 
This book is interdisciplinary. It is intended to reach (but is not restricted to) scholars exploring history, gender studies, material feminism, feminist care theory, ecological feminism, deep ecology, social ecology, environmental humanities, social sustainability, science and technology studies and philosophy. (Summary from Routledge) 
 
Table of Contents: 
Prologue: Separate Paths Towards A Common Future
 
1. Introduction: Interrogating Masculinities 
 
2. Masculine Ecologisation: From Industrial/Breadwinner and Ecomodern to Ecological Masculinities 
 
3. Men and Masculinities: A Spectrum of Views
 
4. Connecting Inner and Outer Nature: A Deeper Ecology for the Global North 
 
5. Lessons from Ecological Feminism
 
5. Caring for the 'Glocal' Commons 
 
6. Headwaters: Previous Research on Men, Masculinities and Earth 
 
7. Ecological Masculinities: Giving ADAM-n

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Masculinity/ies

Year: 2018

The Return of Nature: Feminism, Hegemonic Masculinities, and New Materialisms

Citation:

Garlick, Steve. 2019. “The Return of Nature: Feminism, Hegemonic Masculinities, and New Materialisms.” Men and Masculinities 22 (2): 380–403. 

Author: Steve Garlick

Abstract:

It has generally been taken for granted within the field of Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities (CSMM) that the object of attention and concern is to be found within “the social” and in opposition to naturalizing claims about gender. Nature is not entirely absent from CSMM, often appearing either as malleable material or as a stable basis for the social construction of bodies. In this article, however, I suggest that the time is ripe to develop new concepts of nature by drawing on new materialist theories that are increasingly influential within feminist theory. This move opens up the possibility of strengthening the connections between materialist traditions in CSMM and contemporary developments in feminist theory. This article proceeds by reviewing different forms of materialism within feminist theory and argues that new materialist theories offer insights that can benefit CSMM. In particular, I argue that the theory of hegemonic masculinity needs to be expanded beyond the framework of patriarchy and recast in relation to the place of nature in the complex ecology of human social relations. 

Keywords: nature, ecofeminism, new materialism, complexity theory, hegemonic masculinity

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy

Year: 2019

Towards New EcoMasculinities, EcoGenders, and EcoSexualities

Citation:

Gaard, Greta. 2014. “Towards New EcoMasculinities, EcoGenders, and EcoSexualities.” In Ecofeminism: Feminist Intersections with Other Animals and the Earth, edited by Carol J. Adams and Lori Gruen, 225–39. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Author: Greta Gaard

Annotation:

Summary:
“Are there masculinities that could be consistent with ecofeminist praxis? From years of organizing through the ‘chain of radical equivalences’ among social movement actors, advocated by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe (1985) as crucial to the formation of a radically democratic social movement, eco-justice activists and scholars have learned the value of deconstructing the role of the Dominant Master Self, and providing a location for even those constructed as dominant (whether via race, gender, class, sexuality, or nationality) to embrace a radically ecological vision and stand with—rather than on top of—the earth’s oppressed majorities. For any egalitarian socioeconomic and eco-political transformation, such as that advocated by ecofeminism to be possible, both individuals and institutions need to shift away from overvaluing exclusively white, male, and masculinized attributes and behaviors, jobs, environments, economic practices, laws and political practices, in order to recognize and enact eco-political sustainability and ecological genders” (Gaard 2014, 225).

Topics: Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Justice

Year: 2014

A Whole New World: Remaking Masculinity in the Context of the Environmental Movement

Citation:

Connell, Robert W. 1990. “A Whole New World: Remaking Masculinity in the Context of the Environmental Movement.” Gender and Society 4 (4): 452-78.

Author: Robert W. Connell

Abstract:

The impact of feminism on men has produced both backlash and attempts to reconstruct masculinity. The Australian environmental movement, strongly influenced by countercultural ideas, is a case in which feminist pressure has produced significant attempts at change among men. These are explored through life-history interviews founded on a practice-based theory of gender. Six life histories are traced through three dialectical moments: engagement with hegemonic masculinity; separation focused on an individualized remaking of the self, involving an attempt to undo oedipal masculinization; and a shift toward collective politics. This last and most important step remains tentative.

Topics: Environment, Feminisms, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations Regions: Oceania Countries: Australia

Year: 1990

Insurgent Vulnerability and the Carbon Footprint of Gender

Citation:

Alaimo, Stacy. 2009. “Insurgent Vulnerability and the Carbon Footprint of Gender.” Kvinder Køn & Forskning 3–4: 22–35.

Author: Stacy Alaimo

Annotation:

Summary: 
Gendered stances, styles, practices, and modes of thought permeate the representations of the science of climate change, the activist response to climate change, and modes of consumerism responsible for releasing massive quantities of carbon into the atmosphere. This article critiques the masculinity of aggressive consumption that has increased the carbon footprint of the U.S. and the free-floating, transcendent perspective presented by the official U.S. accounts of climate change. (Summary from original source) 

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Masculinity/ies

Year: 2009

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