Race and the subject of masculinities

Although in recent years scholars have explored the cultural construction of masculinity, they have largely ignored the ways in which masculinity intersects with other categories of identity, particularly those of race and ethnicity. The essays in Race and the Subject of Masculinities address this concern and focus on the social construction of masculinity--black, white, ethnic, gay, and straight--in terms of the often complex and dynamic relationships among these inseparable categories.
Discussing a wide range of subjects including the inherent homoeroticism of martial-arts cinema, the relationship between working-class ideologies and Elvis impersonators, the emergence of a gay, black masculine aesthetic in the works of James Van der Zee and Robert Mapplethorpe, and the comedy of Richard Pryor, Race and the Subject of Masculinities provides a variety of opportunities for thinking about how race, sexuality, and "manhood" are reinforced and reconstituted in today's society. Editors Harry Stecopoulos and Michael Uebel have gathered together essays that make clear how the formation of masculine identity is never as obvious as it might seem to be. Examining personas as varied as Eddie Murphy, Bruce Lee, Tarzan, Malcolm X, and Andre Gidé, these essays draw on feminist critique and queer theory to demonstrate how cross-identification through performance and spectatorship among men of different races and cultural backgrounds has served to redefine masculinity in contemporary culture. By taking seriously the role of race in the making of men, Race and the Subject of Masculinities offers an important challenge to the new studies of masculinity.

Contributors. Herman Beavers, Jonathan Dollimore, Richard Dyer, Robin D. G. Kelly, Christopher Looby, Leerom Medovoi, Eric Lott, Deborah E. McDowell, José E. Muñoz, Harry Stecopoulos, Yvonne Tasker, Michael Uebel, Gayle Wald, Robyn Wiegman

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These 13 essays offer insights into the interrelations of racial group and masculinities in a broad range of societies, cultures, and subcultures. There are thought-provoking discussions of race and gender in Frantz Fanon, of interracial bonding between men, and of whites who immerse themselves in black culture. There are analyses of race and masculinity in old movies (The Blackboard Jungle) and in the writings of early white novelists (Edgar Rice Burroughs). Explored in depth are working-class aspects of Elvis impersonators, the meanings of Malcolm X's teenage years, the differences in the "cool poses" of Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy, the strong accent on muscle-building among many white men, and black gay male cultural production. Christopher Looby pens an interesting chapter on Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a white colonel in a Civil War regiment of African Americans. Throughout the essays there is little use of social science research on past/present realities of racism, sexism, and oppression, research whose incorporation could have rooted socially these too often abstract and excessively parochial (for humanities disciplines) essays. Thorough notes and bibliography; weak index. Upper-division undergraduates and above. J. R. Feagin University of Florida

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