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98 pages

English

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This vivid evocation of the lives of 32 boys from a Johannesburg township is essential reading for anybody wishing to understand black masculinity in South Africa.

Becoming
Men is the story of 32 boys from Alexandra, one of Johannesburg's largest
townships, over a period of twelve seminal years in which they negotiate
manhood and masculinity. Psychologist and academic Malose Langa documents in
close detail what it means to be a young black man in contemporary South
Africa.

The
boys discuss a range of topics including the impact of absent fathers,
relationships with mothers, siblings and girls, school violence, academic
performance, homophobia, gangsterism, unemployment and, in one case, prison
life.

Deep
ambivalence, self-doubt and hesitation emerge in their approach to alternative
masculinities premised on non-violent, non-sexist and non-risk-taking
behaviour. Many of the boys appear simultaneously to comply with and oppose the
prevalent norms, thereby exposing the difficulties of negotiating the multiple
voices of masculinity.

Providing
a rich interpretation of how emotional processes affect black adolescent males,
Langa suggests interventions and services to support and assist them,
especially in reducing high-risk behaviours generally associated with hegemonic
masculinity.

This
is essential reading for students, researchers and scholars of gender studies
who wish to understand manhood and masculinity in South Africa. Psychologists,
youth workers, lay counsellors and teachers who work with adolescent boys will
also find it invaluable. Understanding of new developments in publishing
industry (Involves research and strategic thinking skills)

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 What makes a man a man?

Chapter 2 Reshaping masculinities – Understanding the lives of adolescent boys

Chapter 3 Backdrop to Alex – South African townships and stories in context

Chapter 4 Absent fathers, present mothers

Chapter 5 Pressures to perform – Tsotsi boys vs academic achievement

Chapter 6 Double standards – Dating, sex and girls

Chapter 7 Defying homophobia: ‘This is who I am, finish and klaar’

Chapter 8 Young fathers and the world of work

Chapter 9 ‘I’m still hopeful, still positive’ – Holding onto a dream

Chapter 10 Safe spaces – Listening, hearing, action

Bibliography

Notes

Index

Sujets

Gender Studies

Social Science

Sociologie, société et politique

General officer

Psychology

General

Informations

Publié par	WITS University Press
Date de parution	01 avril 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781776145690
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0900€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

BECOMING MEN
BECOMING MEN
Black Masculinities in a South African Township
Malose Langa
Published in South Africa by: Wits University Press 1 Jan Smuts Avenue Johannesburg 2001
www.witspress.co.za
Copyright Malose Langa 2020
Published edition Wits University Press 2020
Cover image 2019 Siphosihle Mkhwanazi DALRO
First published 2020
http://dx.doi.org.10.18772/12020045676
978-1-77614-567-6 (Paperback) 978-1-77614-571-3 (Hardback) 978-1-77614-568-3 (Web PDF) 978-1-77614-569-0 (EPUB) 978-1-77614-570-6 (Mobi)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act, Act 98 of 1978.
Project manager: Elaine Williams Copyeditor: Alison Lowry Proofreader: Alison Lockhart Indexer: Elaine Williams Cover design: Hybrid Creative Typesetter: Lumina Datamatics Typeset in 11.5 point Crimson
For all the young men interviewed in the book
Contents
Acknowledgements
1 What Makes a Man a Man?
2 Reshaping Masculinities - Understanding the Lives of Adolescent Boys
3 Backdrop to Alex - South African Townships and Stories in Context
4 Absent Fathers, Present Mothers
5 Pressures to Perform - Tsotsi Boys vs Academic Achievement
6 Double Standards - Dating, Sex and Girls
7 Defying Homophobia: This is Who I am, Finish and Klaar
8 Young Fathers and the World of Work
9 I m Still Hopeful, Still Positive - Holding onto a Dream
10 Safe Spaces - Listening, Hearing, Action
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Finally, this book is published! It has taken me many years of procrastinating but also of thinking deeply and critically about young masculinities in South Africa and the world as a whole. This book would not have been possible without the support and assistance of the many people I met, spoke to and whose work I read. To all of you, I wish to say thank you for directly and indirectly enriching my mind and guiding me to complete this book.
I would like to thank my colleagues at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR), where my journey into the world of research was born. At CSVR I met brilliant researchers such as Bronwyn Harris, Sasha Gear, David Bruce, Hugo van der Merwe, Themba Masuku and many others. Special thanks also to Nomfundo Mogapi, Melissa Hunter, Marivic Garcia-Mall, Sonto Mbatha, Kindiza Ngubeni, Modiege Merafe, Tsamme Mfundisi, Steven Rebello, Selby Xiwna, Tsholo Sesanga and Sophie Mulaudzi for the support you provided when I started as an intern at CSVR, and as I worked my way through the ranks to the level of associate senior researcher.
This achievement would not have been possible without my mentor, teacher and motivator, the late Boitumelo Malome Kekana. Petles, you will get your copy of the book when we meet on the other side. I owe this to you, Malome!
I wish also to express my utmost appreciation to my PhD supervisor and mentor, Professor Gill Eagle, for providing invaluable support and guidance throughout the process of completing this book. Many thanks for all your in-depth, detailed and constructive editorial and scholarly comments. Thanks for the time you made to read my countless emails and to provide feedback on draft after draft. Much appreciated!
Thank you to all the young men I interviewed for the research project, which has been shaped into this book It has been a long journey. I met you as young high school boys between the ages of 13 and 18 and you are now young men aged between 23 and 28 years. Thanks very much for giving your precious time to take photos and participate in the interviews, for allowing me to enter your private worlds and for telling me about the difficulties that young black boys and men face in post-apartheid South Africa. I hope your life stories will enrich other boys lives and serve as a lesson for young black men in South Africa and beyond.
Thanks to all my colleagues in the Department of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), especially Garth Stevens, Daleen Alexander, Vinitha Jithoo, Tanya Swart, Peace Kiguwa, Hugo Canham and Brett Bowman, for all your support and words of encouragement to finish this book project. Thanks to all my Master s students (especially MACC students) who worked with me on various research projects on masculinities. Many thanks to Lerato Moroeng for helping me with queries regarding my research budget, travelling arrangements and other logistics. I wish to express my appreciation to Professor Karl von Holdt for his inspiration and motivation in directing me to other research projects on violence. Thank you also to Professor Kopano Ratele at the Medical Research Council (MRC) for the opportunity to be involved in your research projects on masculinities. I hope the insight you shared with me is well represented in this book.
The research project was funded by the South Africa-Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD), DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development, the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the African Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship (ADDRF) offered by the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in partnership with the International Development Research Center (IDRC) and the Ford Foundation. For helping me to get funding for this project, I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Graham Lindegger at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, as well as to Caroline Kabiru and Chima Izugbara at the APHRC in Kenya. I wish to express my appreciation to Shireen Hassim for financially supporting my sabbatical leave, through funds from the Mellon Foundation, to be a visiting scholar at Stony Brook University, New York, USA. Thanks to Professor Michael Kimmel at Stony Brook s Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities for hosting me as I completed this book project. It was a privilege to sit in on your lectures on sex and sexuality, and I gained much insight out of these engagements with you and your students.
Thank you to Stephen Frosh for allowing me to be a visiting scholar at the department of Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. I learned so much in attending your lectures on psychoanalysis and masculinities, which helped me to better conceptualise my research.
Thank you Lee Smith for your thoroughness in proofreading and editing the first draft of this book. Your ability to spot and track all missing sources was amazing.
I also wish to express my appreciation to the Wits Press team (especially Roshan Cader and Elaine Williams) for all your support and words of encouragement in publishing this book. Special words of appreciation to my editor Alison Lowry for helping me simplify academic arguments into something easy to read.
Lastly, I wish to express my appreciation to all my cousins, aunts, uncles and other relatives, especially my mom Velly Langa, and my sister Sada Langa and late brother Louis Langa. A special thank you to my aunts Lydia Sekhu, Violet Matlou and Constance Totone Kgatla, and my uncle Professor ST Kgatla, for your support with my undergraduate studies, which enabled me to reach this level of my career, as well as to my cousin Mmankosi for all your motivation and belief in me. I also dedicate this book to all my friends, especially Benji (Kuka), Venon, Kevin Naidu, Mahlaba (Kgogo), Ngoako, Lenin (Phistos), Brian, Marifi, Sima, Benny (Sprongolo), Nana and Malesela (Moja).
This book is also dedicated to my wife (Princess), and my two little girls Paballo and Atlegang, who had to endure my absence while I focused on it. I hope this book will make changes for you as young girls and allow you to grow up in a world free of violence perpetrated by boys and men.
1 | What Makes a Man a Man?
I n 2007 I began a study of a group of adolescent boys growing up in the South African township of Alexandra. Alex, as it is known, was established in 1912 and as such is one of the oldest townships in the country. It is situated just north-east of Johannesburg, close to the affluent suburb of Sandton, and the majority of those who live there are working-class people. The place is overcrowded and under-serviced, and poverty, violence and crime are rife.
My subjects (participants) were all schoolboys between the ages of 13 and 18 at the time I began to get to know them. The boys were from different schools. Some knew each other but were not close friends. My plan was to conduct a longitudinal study, with the main aim being to explore how adolescent boys negotiate their transition to adulthood in the context of a township, and in doing so observe how they understand what it means to be a real man and whether definitions of masculinity might be static, changing or fluid. I followed them over a period of close on 12 years (2007 to 2018) so that by the time of the conclusion of my study they were all young adults between 24 and 28 years old.
After the first phase of data collection in 2007, I then followed 12 of the boys over the next nearly 12 years, conducting between 6 and 18 individual follow-up interviews with each of them. Eleven of the 12 completed high school (one dropped out in Grade 11) and four completed tertiary-level diplomas. At the time of writing, 10 of the participants were working, one was unemployed and one was in prison.
The field of study - boys and masculinity - is not new. Broadly, it may be characterised as the study of male experience, but this varies according to a specific context and across socio-historical-cultural formations. What is relatively new, however, is what ongoing contemporary research in many parts of the world has revealed. This is that the stereotyped ideas that have dictated what it means to be a man are changing. Certain groups of boys in the world today are not engag