The Palgrave Handbook of African Men and Masculinities

This handbook provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview of key theoretical and analytical approaches, topics and debates in contemporary scholarship on African masculinities. Refusing to privilege Western theoretical constructs (but remaining in dialogue with them), contributors explore the contestations around and diversities within men, masculinities and sexualities in Africa; investigate individual and collective practices of masculinity; and interrogate the social construction of masculinities.

Bringing together insights from scholars across gender studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, history, literature and religion, this book demonstrates how recognizing and upholding the integrity of African phenomena, locating and reflecting on men and masculinities in varied African contexts and drawing new theoretical frameworks all combine to take the discourse on men and masculinities in Africa forward. Chapters examine a range of issues within the context ofmasculinities, including embodiment, sport, violence, militarism, spirituality, gender roles, fatherhood, homosexuality, health and work.

This handbook will be valuable reading for scholars, researchers, and policymakers in Masculinity Studies, and more broadly Gender Studies, as well as Africana Studies.

Ezra Chitando is Professor of History and Phenomenology of Religion at the University of Zimbabwe and has published widely on religion, gender, masculinities, and sexualities. He is co-editor/co-author of over 50 books including Christianity and Controversies Over Homosexuality in Africa; Public Religion and The Politics of Homosexuality in Africa; and Redemptive Masculinities: Men, HIV and Religion. Chitando has completed research fellowships in Germany, Sweden, Scotland, and the US.

Obert Bernard Mlambo is Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy at the University of Zimbabwe, and is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Global South Studies Centre in the University of Cologne, Germany. He is also a former recipient of the Fondation Hardt´s Doctoral Researchers Fellowship (Geneva, Switzerland, 2013) and the Nordic Africa Institute’s Guest Scholar Fellowship (Uppsala, Sweden, 2016). Mlambo has taken up Visiting Research Fellowships and Professorships in the UK, Germany, South Africa and has presented conference papers in many other countries.

Sakhumzi Mfecane is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Western Cape, South Africa who has published widely on African masculinities, men’s health and medical anthropology. His research has appeared in a number of international, peer-reviewed journals including South African Review of Sociology, Social Dynamics, International Journal of Men’s Health, Culture, Health and Sexuality, Anthropology Southern Africa, and African Journal of AIDS Research.

Kopano Ratele is Professor of Psychology at Stellenbosch University, South Africa and a nationally and internationally acclaimed scholar in masculinity studies and decolonial Africa(n)-centring thought. His published works include From Boys to Men: Social Constructions of Masculinity in Contemporary Society (2008), There Was This Goat: Investigating the Truth Commission Testimony of Notrose Nobomvu Konile (2009), Liberating Masculinities (2016), Engaging Youth in Activism, Research and Pedagogical Praxis: Transnational and Intersectional Perspectives on Gender, Sex, and Race (2018), The World Looks Like This From Here: Thoughts on African Psychology (2019), and Why Men Hurt Women and Other Reflections on Love, Violence and Masculinity (2022).