Call for panelists - Caring Masculinities in Africa: Beyond Western-Centered Research and Approach

Dr Delphine Manetta, IFRA’s deputy director, will hold a panel at the Lagos Studies Association Conference 2026 focusing on the role of care in the construction of masculinities in Africa, but proposing several shifts in perspective from the literature from a perspective that emerged with Western scholars to one more centered on African perspectives. It will also discuss care as a critical tool for discussing the imaginaries surrounding masculinities in Africa and understanding experiences of masculinity in different social settings.

Deadline for abstracts: 1 January 2026

Read the full call below or download it here.

LSA 2026

The State of African Studies in the 21st Century

Panel Proposal

Caring Masculinities in Africa:

Beyond Western-Centered Research and Approach

Organizer

Dr Delphine Manetta

IFRA-Nigeria

This panel focuses on the role of care in the construction of masculinities in Africa, but proposes several shifts in perspective from the literature on “caring masculinities”. Like the study of masculinities in general, research on “caring masculinities” was initially based on studies of the West (North America, Europe, and Australia), driven by Western feminists scholars (Coltrane 1996; Doucet 2006; Elliott 2016; Hanlon 2012; Wojnicka & Boise 2025), at the expense of African-centered empirical research and theories (Mfecane 2018). They have also been focused primarily on the study of fatherhood (Beglaubter 2021; Enderstein & Boonzaier 2015; Eerola 2025; Hunter et al. 2017; Joshi 2021; Swartz & Bhana 2009), on the one hand, and men’s relationship with nature (Brettin 2025; Burrell and Pedersen 2025; Daggett 2018), on the other hand. With the exception of a few theoretical and programmatic works calling for the degendering and/or decolonization of care (Morell & Jewkes 2011; Nayak 2023; Prattes 2022), care therefore remains an under-explored phenomenon in the empirical study of masculinities in African societies.

This panel uses care as a critical tool for discussing the imaginaries surrounding masculinities in Africa and understanding experiences of masculinity in different social settings. Firstly, while the intimate lives of men in Africa (sexuality, friendship, brotherhood, etc.) have been the subject of particular attention from researchers, none have developed any reflection around the question of care. Secondly, literature on women and gender relations in Africa, as well as development projects seeking to engage men in gender equality programs and mainstream opinion, have tended to describe African masculinities through the prism of precarity, violence, or predation.

Approaching care as a practice and an emotional investment (Tronto & Fisher 1990), that men direct towards people, but also materialities and places (Puig de la Bellacasa 2017), this panel aims at recounting the standpoints of men, from various time, socio-cultural groups, classes, and generations, in order to question how care shapes plural, original, hybrid, and changing masculinities in Africa. Far from offering a romanticized view of men and masculinities, the notion of care is a prism to capture the dynamics, tensions and ambivalences that shape masculinities on the continent. Through care, and caring, this panel examines how attention, solicitude, protection, and emotional or financial support contribute to building sensitives relationships of interdependence and, conversely, to challenging norms, hierarchies, and male relationships. For instance, to what extent does care place men in power dynamics or, to use the terminology developed by Connell and Messerschmidt (2005), in hegemonic, subordinate, or marginalized forms of masculinity? On the contrary, how does care shape “horizontal” relationships of friendship, work, trade, neighborhood, etc.? How does it also build relationships between male citizens and public and customary authorities? Is care can be both seen as a response to violence, uncertainty, precarity, and insecurity, and an attribute of elders, leaders and elites, giving rise to expectations and aspirations? How does cleaning, arranging, repairing, maintaining, or upkeeping a private or public space contribute to the construction of men’s subjectivities? Does caring about/for people, things, and places reinforce or challenge the masculine ideal of the “breadwinner” or “provider” (Crompton 1999)? Can we identify different forms of care provided by men according to social background and age? How care can intersect with religious relationships, beliefs, and practices?

This panel aims at bringing together contributions from different disciplines: history, anthropology, sociology, geography, and political science. However, all contributions must be based on archival research and/or ethnographic case studies in different African settings. The contributions submitted for selection must therefore clearly identify the context of the investigations and the empirical data used.

Submission Guidelines:

• Abstracts should be approximately 800 words (exclusive of bibliography), clearly outlining the main question and arguments and the data used.
• They should be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Submission deadline: January 1, 2026
• The final text of the communication will be sent by May 26.

Bibliography

Beglaubter, J. (2021). “‟I feel Like It’s a Little Bit of a Badge of Honor”: Father’s Leave-Taking and the Development of Caring Masculinities. Men and Masculinities, 24(1): 3-22.

Brettin, S. (2025). “Farming Masculinities in transition? Revisiting the entanglements of agricultural production and masculinities in times of socio-ecological crisis through a systematic literature review”. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 50:42. URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11614-025-00625-2

Burrell, S. R. and Pedersen, C. (2025). “From men’s violence to an ethic of care: Ecofeminist contributions to green criminology”. Journal of Criminology, 58(3): 372-388.

Coltrane, S. (1996). Family Man: Fatherhood, Housework, and Gender Equity. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Connell, R. W & Messerschmidt, J. W. (2005). “Hegemonic Masculinity. Rethinking the Concept”. Gender & Society, 19(6): 829-859.

Crompton, R. (ed) (1999). Restructuring Gender relations and Employment. The Decline of the Male Breadwinner. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Daggett, C. (2018). “Petro-masculinity: Fossil Fuels and Authoritarian Desire”. Millennium Journal of International Studies, 47(1): 25-44.

Doucet, A. (2006). Do Men Mother? Fathering, Care, and Domestic Responsibility. Toronto, University of Toronto Press.

Elliott, K. (2016). “Caring masculinities: Theorizing an Emerging Concept”. Men and Masculinities, 19(3): 240-259.

Enderstein, A. M. & Boonzaier, F. (2015). “Narratives of Young South African Fathers: Redefining Masculinity through Fatherhood”. Journal of Gender Studies, 24(5): 512-527.

Eerola, P. et al. (eds) (2025). Caring fathers in the Global Context. Bristol, Bristol University Press.

Hanlon, N. (2012). Masculinities, Care and Equality. Identity and Nurture in Men’s Lives. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Hunter, S. C., Riggs, D. W. & Augoustinos, M. (2017). “Hegemonic masculinity versus a caring masculinity: Implications for understanding primary caregiving fathers”. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(3): 1-9.

Joshi, M. (2021). “‟I do Not Want to be a Weekend Papa”: The Demographic ‟Crisis”, Active Fatherhood, and Emergent Caring Masculinities in Berlin”. Journal Family Issues, 42(5): 883-907.

Mfecane, S. (2018). “Towards African-centered theories of masculinity”. Social Dynamics, 44(2): 291-305.

Morell, R. & Jewkes, R. (2011). “Carework and caring: A path to gender equality practices among men in South Africa?”. International Journal of Equity in Health.  http://www.equityhealthj.com/content/10/1/17

Nayak, A. (2023). “Decolonizing Care: Hegemonic Masculinity, Caring Masculinity and the Material Congigurations of Care”. Men and Masculinities, 0(0): 1-21.

Prattes, R. (2022). “Caring Masculinities and Race: On Racialized Workers and ‟New Fathers””. Men and Masculinities, 25(5): 721-742.

Puig de la Bellacasa, M. (2017). Matters of Care. Speculative Ethics in More Than Human Worlds. Minneapolis/London, University of Minnesota Press.

Swartz, S. & Bhana, A., 2009. Teenage tata: voices of young fathers in South Africa. Cape Town, HSRC Press.

Tronto, J. & Fisher, B. (1990). “Towards a Feminist Theory of Care”. In Abel, E., Nelson, M. (eds), Circles of Care: Work and Identity in Women’s Lives. New York, State University of New York Press: 36-54.

Wojnicka, K. & Boise, S. de (2025). “Caring Masculinities: rethinking the Concept”. Men and Masculinities, 0(0): 1-20.