This article explains why Connell’s classification of masculinities is inadequate for the analysis of clear crisis situations. Based on a study in a small town in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the author found two ways in which men renegotiated their masculinities after the war broke out and closure of a sugarcane factory caused 3,000 people to lose their jobs. Some men adopted a victim identity; they placed the blame of their situation outside themselves, and became idle, aggressive, suspicious toward others and nonself-reflective. Other men renegotiated their masculinities and accepted a lower status within the family and society. The latter renegotiation was more conducive for the survival of individuals and families; it decreased sexual and gender-based violence and increased gender equality and general levels of cooperative behavior. Examining men in terms of “victimized” and “effaced” masculinities increases our understanding of how men respond differently to emasculation and it can also inform humanitarian and developmental responses.
AboimS.2010. Plural Masculinities: The Remaking of the Self in Private Life. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
2.
BaazM.SternM.. 2009. “Why Do Soldiers Rape? Masculinity, Violence, and Sexuality in the Armed Forces in the Congo (DRC).”International Studies Quarterly53:495–518.
3.
BannonI.CorreiaM. C., eds. 2006. The Other Half of Gender. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
4.
BarkerG.RicardoC.. 2005. Young Men and the Construction of Masculinity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for HIV/AIDS, Conflict and Violence. Social Development Papers: Conflict Prevention & Reconstruction. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
5.
BroudeG. J.1990. “Protest Masculinities; A Further Look at the Causes and the Concept.”Ethos. Journal of the Society for Psychological Anthropology18:103–22.
6.
ClarkeY.2008. “Security Sector Reform in Africa: A Lost Opportunity to Deconstruct Militarised Masculinities?”Feminist Africa, 14, 49–66.
ConnellR. W.MesserschmidtJames. 2005. “Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept.”Gender & Society19:829–59.
10.
DemetriouD. Z.2001. “Connell’s Concept of Hegemonic Masculinity: A Critique.”Theory and Society30:337–61.
11.
DolanC.2002. “Collapsing Masculinities and Weak States—A Case Study of Northern Uganda.” In Masculinities Matter! Men, Gender, and Development, edited by CleaverF., 57–83. London, UK: Zed Books.
12.
DolanC.2010. War Is Not Yet Over: Community Perceptions of Sexual Violence and its Underpinnings in Eastern DRC. London, UK: International Alert.
13.
DoverP.2005. “Gender and Embodiment: Expectations of Manliness in an Zambian Village.” In African Masculinities: Men in Africa from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present, edited by OuzganeL.MorrellR., 173–88. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
14.
Groes-GreenC.2009. “Hegemonic and Subordinated Masculinities: Class, Violence and Sexual Performance among Young Mozambican Men.”Nordic Journal of African Studies18:286–304.
15.
HollandK.2005. “The Troubled Masculinities in Tsitsi Dagarembga’s Nervous Conditions.” In African Masculinities: Men in Africa from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present, edited by OuzganeL.MorrellR., 121–36. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
16.
HollanderT. 2014. “Oral Histories of Gender in Flux: Challenging Popular Perceptions about the State of Gender in South Kivu, Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.” In Gender and Conflict. Embodiments, Discourses and Symbolic Practices, edited by Georg Frerks, Annelou Ypeij and Reinhilde Sotiria König, 19–44. Farnham: Ashgate.
17.
HutchingsK.2007. “Making Sense of Masculinity and War.”Men and Masculinities10:389–404.
18.
JewkesR.Penn-KekanaL.Rose-JuniusH.. 2005. “If They Rape Me, I Can’t Blame them: Reflections on Gender in the Social Context of Child Rape in South Africa and Namibia.”Social Science & Medicine61:1809–182.
19.
JonesA.2009. Gender Inclusive; Essays on Violence, Men, and Feminist International Relations. London, UK: Routledge.
20.
LwamboD.2011. “Before the War, I was a Man: Men and Masculinities in Eastern DR Congo.”Gender & Development21:47–66.
21.
MacgaffeyJ.1987. Entrepreneurs and Parasites; The Struggle for Indigenous Capitalism in Zaire. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
22.
MechanicE.2004. Why Gender Still Matters: Sexual Violence and the Need to Confront Militarized Masculinity: A Case Study of the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Insights Series. Ottawa: Partnership Africa Canada.
23.
MiescherS. F.2005. Making Men in Ghana. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
24.
MollerM.2007. “Exploiting Patterns: A Critique of Hegemonic Masculinity.”Journal of Gender Studies16:263–76.
25.
MyrttinenH. 2003. “Disarming masculinities.” In Women, Men, Peace and Security, edited by KerstinV.KingA.HeyzerN.HillF.FarrV.MyrttinenH.MarcaillouA.CathcartD., 37–46. Geneva: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.
26.
OserC.2007. Ending Violence against Women in Eastern Congo: Preparing Men to Advocate for Women’s Rights. Washington, DC: Women for Woman.
27.
PypeK.2007. “Fighting Boys, Strong Men and Gorillas: Notes on the Imagination of Masculinities in Kinshasa.”Africa77:250–71.
28.
RicardoC.BarkerG.. 2008. “Men, Masculinities, Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Violence: A Literature Review and Call for Action.”Promundo & Men Engage, 1–55.
29.
SchatzbergM. G. 1988. The Dialectics of Oppression in Zaire. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
30.
SilberschmidtM.2001. “Disempowerment of Men in Rural and Urban East Africa: Implications for Male Identity and Sexual Behaviour.”World Development29:657–71.
31.
TheidonK.2009. “Reconstructing Masculinities: The Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration of Former Combatants in Colombia.”Human Rights Quarterly31:1–34.
32.
TrefonT.2009. “Public Service Provision in a Failed State: Looking Beyond Predation in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”Review of African Political Economy36: 9–21.
33.
Van ReybrouckD.2010. Congo: een geschiedenis. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: De Bezige Bij.
34.
WrongM.2000. In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo. London, UK: Fourth Estate.
