Repairing Society by Repairing Men – Masculinity Consultancy and Self-Scaling Social Repair in Contemporary Kenya

Abstract

This essay focuses on fleshing out the ideology of a popular Kenyan masculinity consultant called Amerix as one of self-scaling social repair. Assuming that the natural order of society has been colonized and infiltrated by feminist practices, Amerix promises men masculine salvation if they agree to change their daily practices and their ways of interpreting the world which, like a matchbox igniting a large forest, would allow the natural order of masculinity to rule society at large again. Repair, in other words, is considered a self-scaling practice that (re)masculinizes men’s bodies, men’s relation with one another as well as with women, and finally the world itself, thereby tipping it back into its natural state that allegedly has been skillfully hidden beneath a cloak of feminist rhetoric and micro-practices. Instead of analyzing the Kenyan men’s movement spearheaded by Amerix myopically as a conservative political movement, we propose to view it as an ideology that suggests to reinforce teleological properties of the world itself, to repair the masculine machine so to speak. Amerix’ men’s movement is not an attempt to restore twentieth century patriarchy but to set free natural masculine forces that are believed to be able to deal with all contemporary issues of society, ultimately with detrimental effects to men themselves.