Abstract

The reality of international relations and its academic study are still almost entirely constituted by men. Rethinking the Man Question is a crucial investigation and reinvigoration of debates about gender and international relations. Following on from the seminal The Man Question in International Relations this book looks at the increasingly violent and 'toxic' nature of world politics post 9/11. Contributors including Raewyn Connell, Kimberley Hutchings, Cynthia Enloe, Kevin Dunn and Sandra Whitworth consider the diverse theoretical and practical implications of masculinity for international relations in the modern world. Covering theoretical issues including masculine theories of war, masculinity and the military, cyborg soldiers, post-traumatic stress disorder and white male privilege. The book also focuses on the ways in which masculinity configures world events from conscientious objection in South Africa to 'porno-nationalism' in India, from myths and heroes in Kosovo to the makings of Zimbabwe. This essential work will define the field for many years to come.
Jane L. Parpart is Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University in International Development Studies, Gender and Women's Studies and History. She is currently visiting professor at the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at the University of West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago. She has co-edited a number of volumes, including The Man Question in International Relations (1998), Gender, Conflict and Peacekeeping (2005) and Rethinking Empowerment (2002). She has written extensively on gender and development, gender, development and violence and urban history in Southern Africa. Marysia Zalewski is Director of Gender Studies in the School of Social Science at the University of Aberdeen. Her research and teaching interests include theories of feminism and gender, critical International Relations theory and masculinity studies. She is the author of numerous chapters, articles and books including The Man Question in International Relations (1998), Feminism after Postmodernism (2001) International Theory: Positivism and Beyond (2004) and Intervening in Northern Ireland: Critically re-thinking representations of the conflict (2007).
'This impressive collection deftly extends the feminist inquiry into International Relations by interrogating men and masculinity. Scholars and students are able to both see men as gendered actors, as well as understand the gender of institutions and organizations. Taken alongside analyses of women, this collection will reframe the field -- integrating masculinity, but ever mindful of power differences.' Michael Kimmel, SUNY Stony Brook, editor Men and Masculinities 'More sophisticated than its predecessor, Rethinking the Man Question is a powerful collection with real and disturbing policy implications. The essays here are deeply integrated with the new global study of masculinity and contemporary international relations theory. Together, they make a convincing case for putting gender at the centre of the way we think about international relations.' Craig N. Murphy, Wellesley College 'Located at the intersection of feminism, masculinity studies, post colonial studies and international relations, this striking collection demonstrates the extraordinary resilience and malleability of gendered power and violence in today's toxic post 9/11 world and opens up new terrain in the study and practice of national and global politics' Jindy Pettman, ANU How come there is such vigorous resistance to women's equality in spite of decades of progressive social changes? These essays expose the desperate grip of masculinist logics and effects on both the field of international relations and also on life itself and its meanings around the globe today. Yet there are new possibilities for effectively loosening the grip of gender on current social institutions and practices. These essays point readers toward them. Sandra Harding, UCLA