Language and Masculinities: Performances, Intersections, Dislocations

by Tommaso M. Milani (Editor)

Overview

This volume showcases cutting-edge research in the linguistic and discursive study of masculinities, comprising the first significant edited collection on language and masculinities since Johnson and Meinhof’s 1997 volume. Overall, the chapters are linked together by a critical analytical perspective that seeks to understand the relationships between discourse, masculinities, and power. Whereas some of the chapters offer detailed, linguistically informed critiques of the ways in which old and new expressions of masculinities are complicit in the reproduction of men’s hegemonic positions of power, others provide a more complex picture, one in which collusion and subversion go hand in hand. Contributions argue for the need for research on language and masculinities to expand its remit so as to engage with "gay masculinities," and unsettle gendered categories in order to consider the ways in which women, transgender, and intersex individuals also perform a variety of masculinities. Finally, unlike Johnson and Meinhof’s 1997 collection, this volume not only offers a wider—and perhaps "queerer" perspective—on the study of language and masculinities, but also covers a broader geographical and socio-cultural spectrum, including work on Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317638919
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/05/2014
Series:	Routledge Critical Studies in Discourse
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	270
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Tommaso M. Milani is Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. His main areas of research include language politics and ideology, language, gender and sexuality and queer theory. He has published in several international journals including Language in Society, Journal of Sociolinguistics, and Discourse & Society. He is currently co-editor of the journals Gender and Language, and African Studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Language and Masculinities… 20 Years Later Tommaso M. Milani 1. Theorizing Language and Masculinities Tommaso M. Milani 2. Two Hundred Years of the American Man Paul Baker 3. Fight Narratives, Covert Prestige, and Performances of ‘Tough’ Masculinity: Some Insights from an Urban Center Robert Lawson 4. Emceeing Toughness, Toughing Up the Emcee: Language and Masculine Ideology in Freestyle Rap Performances Quentin E. Williams 5. Construing the New Oppressed: Masculinity in Crisis and the Backlash against Feminism Michelle M. Lazar 6. Diminutives and Masculinity in Brazilian Portuguese Ronald Beline Mendes 7. ‘The Ideal Gay Man’: Narrating Masculinity and National Identity in Israel Erez Levon 8. No Ordinary Boy: Language, Masculinities, and Queer Pornography Veronika Koller 9. Masculinity in Lesbian Discourse: The Case of Butch and Femme Lucy Jones 10. Transmasculinity and the Voice: Gender Assignment, Identity, and Presentation Lal Zimman 11. Reclaiming Masculinity in an Account of Lived Intersex Experience: Language, Desire, and Embodied Knowledge Brian W. King

Editorial Reviews

"This book is deliberately figured as a successor to Language and Masculinity, the 1997 volume edited by Sally Johnson and Ulrike Meinhof. That book was the product of a zeitgeist, and the volume currently under review is a more than worthy heir to its inspirational volume, and even surpasses it: the contributions in the current volume push forward significantly the fields of language and gender and language and sexuality [...] We are left with a satisfying exploration of gender and language and excitement about new frontiers in language and sexuality, desire, and identity" — Scott Kiesling, Language in Society

"An exciting and ground-breaking new collection in which Milani and his international group of contributors bring the study of language and masculinities bang up to date for the 21st century. A theoretical and empirical tour de force." — Sally Johnson, Emeritus Professor of Linguistics, University of Leeds, UK

"Since the publication of Johnson’s and Meinhof’s book, Language and Masculinity, almost 20 years ago, this impressive collection is the first to focus exclusively on the interconnections of language and masculinities. The volume provides a state-of-the-art treatment of current developments in the field: informed by feminist politics and by queer theory, it both interrogates the production of hegemonic masculinities and the naturalized relationship between masculinities and male-bodied subjects. It is theoretically sophisticated, methodologically varied and spans a range of geographical locations—an essential read for scholars of language, gender and sexuality." — Professor Susan Ehrlich, York University, Toronto, Canada

From the Publisher