‘I act this way because why?’ Prior knowledges, teaching for change, imagining new masculinities

Abstract

This article begins by outlining some of the prior knowledges brought by undergraduate students to an introduction to gender studies class in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. I show that, at the beginning of the course, students clearly understand gender to refer to women and femininity, imagining femininity (but not masculinity) to be responsive to social change. I suggest that, in the face of these prior knowledges, it is important to focus on masculinity as performance, as a cultural artefact and one that is deeply harmful to South African men. Student experiences of this teaching and learning suggest that it offers possibilities for imagining men as allies and beneficiaries – rather than enemies – in the struggle for gender equity.

Keywords:

• prior knowledges
• gender
• teaching
• feminism
• masculinities
• men

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Kopano Ratele and Jeff Hearn for comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work is based on research supported by the National Research Foundation. Any opinion, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and therefore the NRF does not accept any liability in regard thereto.

Notes on contributors

Lindsay Clowes

An historian by training, Lindsay Clowes is an Associate Professor in the Women's and Gender Studies Department of the University of the Western Cape. She writes about gender, men and masculinities and has a current research focus on teaching gender.