The Nature of Masculinity
Critical Theory, New Materialisms, and Technologies of Embodiment
Harnessing the strengths of social theory and new materialisms, this book advances a new critical theory of masculinity.
Description
This analysis of the relationship between gender and nature proposes that masculinity is a technology that shapes both our engagement with the natural world and how we define freedom. As the complexity of our ecosystems becomes more apparent, the line between nature and culture, human and nonhuman, and technology and bodies becomes less distinct. Yet contemporary masculinity studies has generally failed to incorporate this new way of thinking. Drawing on the work of the Frankfurt School, Heidegger, and new materialist theories, Steve Garlick reassesses the relationship between masculinity, nature, and embodiment to advance a new critical theory of masculinity.
Reviews
The Nature of Masculinity should be of interest to
theoretically informed gender studies scholars and graduate students, particularly those in
the Humanities and social sciences who wish to see theoreticians wh
- Todd W. Reeser, University of Pittsburg
For all of the advances in writing and thinking on men and masculinity, there is often a dramatic paucity of engagement with thinking theoretically through the most fundamental and crucial concepts of the field. It is this type of deep theoretical engagement that is crucial for scholars in this field to continue working through. Unafraid of a challenge, Garlick has pushed the field to think with new scholars and theories, a difficult and necessary thrust that we all can benefit from.
- Frank G. Karioris, American University of Central Asia, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Garlick’s posthumanist approach is interesting as he incorporates contemporary feminist and posthumanist theory, thereby possibly reopening a relatively forgotten dimension of masculinity studies as he extends masculine gender relations in connection to nature, technology and the non-human … Garlick’s approach also opens up for an extended view on what masculinity politics could mean both in terms of regressive and progressive change.”
- Ulf Mellström, editor in chief