SSJ30080 Masculinities

Academic Year 2020/2021

This is an inter-disciplinary module that takes a critical look at the studies of gender, masculinities, and gender relations. The course offers a broad overview of the contemporary studies on men and masculinities. It draws upon the assumption that masculinity is an organising principle of society, which shapes ideologies and practices, and intersects with factors such as race, ethnicity, social class, and sexuality. There are multiple versions of masculinities and forms of “being a man” presented not only at different times and in different cultures, but also within the same society. These versions of masculinity coexist within power relations, hierarchical positions in society, and within negotiations and intersections between femininities and masculinities.

This module interrogates topics such as: the intersections of gender, race and social class; heterosexual, queer, gay and trans masculinities; gender inequality; non-western masculinities; work; male health and wellbeing; ageing; “new” masculinities; male friendship; fatherhood and caring masculinities; and popular culture and the “manosphere”. Particular attention will be devoted to the study of men and masculinities in the context of international migration, globalisation, and inequality.

About the module coordinator and lecturer:
Dr. Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila is an Assistant Professor/Ad Astra Fellow at the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice. By background he is a medical anthropologist with a PhD from Columbia University, New York. His research expertise spans the topics of Masculinities, Migration, Sexualities, Ageing and Global Health based on research undertaken in Latin America, Ireland, and the USA. His latest publications include Unsustainable Institutions of Men: Transnational Dispersed Centres, Gender Power, Contradictions (Routledge 2019) and Being a Man in a Transnational World: The Masculinity and Sexuality of Migration (Routledge 2014). He has previously taught at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Lima, Peru); Georgetown University (Washington, DC, USA); and at the University of the Philippines (Manila, Philippines).

We encourage you to search for other Social Justice (SSJ) modules which include options relating to Equality Studies and Women's Studies. Graduates who have completed at least 15 credits of undergraduate electives by choosing SSJ modules will have this noted on their UCD transcripts as the completion of Structured Electives in Social Justice.