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ABSTRACT
Our aim in this article is to provide readers with a critical overview of some of the recent research in psychology, sociology, geography and critical masculinity studies with a focus on rural places and masculinities. We begin our critical review of rural masculinities with a discussion of hegemonic masculinity, a concept well known to theorists of masculinities, before providing an overview of the literature on rural men, which leads into to a larger theoretical discussion about the nature of masculinities and rural studies. We discuss how we can operationalize these theories and answer the question, are rural Prairie masculinities hegemonic masculinities. We argue that scholars must do more to unpack the complexity and relationality of masculinities that take place across changing rural settings.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Dr Jonathan A. Allan is the Canada Research Council Chair in Queer Theory at Brandon University. He is the author Reading from Behind: A Cultural Analysis of the Anus (University of Regina Press, 2016).
Candice Waddell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatric Nursing at Brandon University. She holds a Master's degree in Psychiatric Nursing from Brandon University and was granted the Brandon University gold medal in Master of Psychiatric Nursing upon graduation. Prior to her work with Brandon University, she was a registered psychiatric nurse in Australia, New Zealand, Manitoba and remote communities in Nunavut. She was acknowledged nationally by the Canadian Alliance of Mental Illness and Mental Health with a Champion of Mental Health Award for her work in Nunavut improving community wellness through youth and community engagement. She has worked nationally and internationally on projects and collaborations focused on improving indigenous mental health and wellness, and reducing the impact of trauma.
Dr. Rachel Herron is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at Brandon University and a Canada Research Chair in Rural and Remote Mental Health. The overarching goal of her research is to work with rural communities, students, researchers and policy makers to create more supportive environments for people living with mental health conditions.
Kerstin Roger, PhD. (Associate Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba). Dr. Roger has been teaching and supervising for over 15 years. She is Director of the Undergraduate Program in Community Health Sciences. Research questions focus on aging and the family, on wellness, caregiving and community, and how all of these interface with health care and chronic illness. Dr. Roger has been a Principal Investigator on multi-site nationally funded research (e.g. PHAC, SSHRC, Movember, federal government), as well as conducting provincial and regionally funded research. She has worked on international collaborations, local not-for-profit community initiatives, and continues to co-author and engage graduate students in her research.
Notes
1. Although women do contribute much to the success of farms in these countries, the culture and practice of farming in Canada is still very much male dominated and the shift toward women's ownership of farms is very recent (see www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/ca2016).
2. In recognizing that hegemonic masculinity as a theory is not static, we want to be clear that we are not abandoning it as other scholars have done, we think here, for instance, of Inclusive Masculinity Theory (Anderson, Citation2009; McCormack, Citation2012). Inclusive Masculinity Theory has argued that hegemonic masculinity made “sense” at one point in time, but is no longer a useful theoretical tool; we disagree.