Abstract
The current body of literature predominantly centers on the experiences of women within urban spaces, resulting in a comparative deficiency in the comprehension of the intricate interplay between men, masculinity, and urban environments. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the intricate nexus between gender dynamics and the reciprocal influences emanating from the rapidly burgeoning urban landscapes, it is imperative to address this lacuna in research. Masculinity, Consumerism, and the Post-national Indian City: Streets, Neighbourhoods, Home by Sanjay Srivastava fills this significant gap through the employment of historical analysis and ethnographic research, coupled with an exploration of the manifold dimensions of popular culture. It encompasses a broad spectrum of scenarios, ranging from elite nationalist visions of the city and modernity to how working-class men navigate the urban landscape, driven by desire and aspirations for social advancement. Additionally, it critically scrutinizes the confluence of masculinity with religious factors, the sexualized portrayals of the urban milieu in popular culture texts, and the depictions of political leaders as global embodiments of masculine archetypes. Structured into seven chapters, including an introduction, five core chapters, and a conclusion, the book's central thesis revolves around how masculinity culture shapes cities and how men’s role in the city influences urban dynamics such as habitation, mobility, social interaction, labor, and leisure, among others.
A key distinctive aspect of Srivastava’s book is its emphasis on the city as the backdrop for constructing and deconstructing masculine cultures. It positions India as a vibrant site of profound cultural, social, and economic transformations that give rise to “new forms of both masculinities and anxieties” (8). It captures these dynamics through an interdisciplinary and intersectional methodology, aiming to offer a comprehensive understanding of masculine modernity. The book underscores the intricate relationship between social identity and physical space, underscoring the dual function of spaces in enabling the articulation and cultivation of manifold identities. It also explores cities’ social life within a capitalist context, with a subtle but broader focus than just neoliberalism. It argues against overextending neoliberalism as an explanatory framework for the complexity of regional lifeways under various forms of capitalism.
The first core chapter, Chapter 2, explores the interplay between ideologies and spaces, focusing on discourses of middle-class masculinity, taking school as a crucial site for constructing a narrative of the metropolis and exploring how “city-ness constituted a significant aspect of the nationalist imaginary” (37) while differentiating nationalism from post-nationalism. Shifting from formal institutions, the book turns its attention to the “streets and footpaths” (59) as “symbolic sites of ‘other’ lives” (59), shedding light on the relationships between the city and masculinity that reveal subalternity and the desire for alternative worlds. Chapter 3 delves into post-nationalism and moral consumption as components of urban masculinities, illuminating anxieties surrounding masculinity, focusing on subaltern men in the city and urban ‘sex clinics’ as significant sites for knowledge and debate regarding working-class masculine identities. Chapter 4 explores post-nationalism and the city, extending the investigation into the location of masculine forms within new cultural and political economies that sustain traditional power structures. It posits the city as “a site of anxiety” (102) where men must constantly safeguard their masculinity by “refashioning their identities as fragmented, rather than whole selves” (102). Chapter 5 builds on the discussion of spaces of masculinity by investigating the entanglement of religion and masculinities in various urban locations. It focuses on the Bajrang Dal, an organization of the Hindu right, to explore the lives of urban individuals whose actions span diverse domains, including Hindu nationalism. The arguments here are rooted in theories of space, subjectivity, and identity politics “in an age of intense and voluminous transnational flow” (106). It suggests that a far-right Hindu male self, seemingly associated with a unified Hindu identity, is actually “ensconced within the strategies of the split self, expressive of the male desire to engage more fully with a social world” (126).
Chapter 6 raises an important question: How can the city serve as a center of consumerism and a controlled space for women's participation? It focuses on gender politics pertaining to young single women in the city, discusses recent safety measures, and posits that the city is being envisaged as a “technotopia” (131), where technology is viewed as a solution to intricate social issues entwined with the concept of moral consumption. Ultimately, this results in the creation of a masculinist urban imaginary. The final chapter revisits and applies key themes from previous chapters to recent developments in Indian politics. It analyzes the persona of Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, and posits that Modi has been positioned as a strong and masculine leader, embodying “Modi-masculinity” (154) within the context of consumerist modernity. This shift in traditional Indian masculinist discourse reflects evolving consumerist aspirations, the complexities of Indian tradition and gender politics, and the reshaping of masculine identities.
Srivastava’s book, as a whole, emerges as a meticulously crafted and compellingly argued critique of urban spaces and masculinities in India. It adeptly employs the encompassing framework of post-nationalism and moral consumerism to deliver an empirically grounded and theoretically informed exploration of the gendered city within a non-Western context. This makes it an essential literature for scholars in the area of masculinities and gender in India.