ANTH 330: Men and Masculinities
Class Time: Fall Semester 2008
Class Location: Science Center 342
Class: M/W 1:00-2:15pm
Office Hours: M/W 2:15-3:45 and Tues 4-5pm
Office Phone: x3888
Office Location: Snell Hall 272
E-mail: staiger@clarkson.edu
Over the last few decades, manhood has come under attack. Instead of warrior heroes like John Wayne and James Bond, TV shows today feature a good number of losers like Homer Simpson and Frazier and numerous men's movements have emerged centered on such issues as "male bonding" and atonement. At the same time, other aspects of popular culture bombard us with an image of men as muscle-packed, mean, lean fighting machines or as exploitative pimps. While the average size of men's muscles seemed to have increased dramatically, what has happened to men's sense of self, how they see each other, and how they see women? Is this all the result of feminists attacking men as being domineering, oppressive chauvinists? Or is this a period of sorely needed male self-reflection? In this discussion-based course we take a critical look at the role of manhood in our society and elsewhere, by examining the making of masculinities through the life course, and in institutions such as sports, schools and college, military, prisons, marriage, politics or work, and within the social dimensions of race and class. We will also introduce international and cross-cultural perspectives on masculinities as a critical backdrop to our Western notions of what it means to be considered "a man."
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