Loving (Lumpen) Masculinities: Teaching to Transform Heteropatriarchy, Toxic Masculinity, and Urban Misogyny

ABSTRACT

An analysis of praxis can inform how teachers treat lumpen masculinities performed by young Black men, who are some of the most socially defiant and alienated from US schooling and upward mobility, specifically, and other cisgender boys of color, generally. To make sense of heteropatriarchy, toxic masculinity, and urban misogyny in the classroom, I drew on Black revolutionary and gender theory, as well as critical educational research. This critical teacher action research illustrates how addressing gendered conflict as teachers is often messy, imperfect, and full of tension. Findings also suggest that this type of teaching benefits boys who internalize and reproduce gendered contradictions, as well as girls and marginalized others who are vulnerable to these intersecting systems of oppression. I point to implications for praxis appropriate to healing from the raced, classed, and gendered fragmentation that oppressed people face under the current social system.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Throughout this article, I alternate between Black boys/men and boys/men of color and between Black girls/women and girls/women of color, not to equate non-Black people of color’s reality with the very distinct Black experience but to suggest that the responses discussed also are relevant for the varying participants named.

2. I understand that my cisgender male positionality allows me to engage in critical gendered praxis from a place of privilege. Because of this privilege, my relationship to the gender oppression that many women, gender-expansive, nonbinary, women-identifying people and teachers of color must manage is not as raw or immediate for me as it might be for them.

3. The so-called Philippines (named after 15-year-old Prince Phillip II of Spain) is one of 11 Southeast Asian countries; darker skinned Asians are often referred to as Brown, in relation to lighter skinned, supposedly Yellow Asians.

4. Pseudonyms are used for all names of students, community members, and locations.

5. Around the time of this research, Victory Hood Crips was the largest Black gang in the city, with over 1,600 active members.

6. Anti-Blackness shifts the center from white versus non-white to Black versus non-Black. When non-Black people of color condemn and criminalize Black boys, this anti-Black racism further informs their vilification and perpetuates anti-Black oppression.

7. A Crip gang salutation

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Patrick Roz Camangian

Patrick Roz Camangian is a professor in the Teacher Education Department at the University of San Francisco. His interdisciplinary scholarship on education and humanization intersects critical pedagogy, critical literacy, and health science research. He pursues these areas of interest to improve the holistic learning outcomes for historically underserved students and transform teacher quality, capacity, and retention.