Dissecting Modern Masculinities

Catalog description

Masculinity is a concept that we often think of as static, permanent and natural. This course argues that it is, in fact, socially constructed and historically dynamic: what any society thinks of as normal male behavior is always liable to change. More than that, ideals of manliness are often bound up with questions of race, class and power. Thus, this course looks at the different ideas of masculinity that existed in the ancient world and in the Middle Ages but with most of its focus on the ideals of male behavior at the heart of a number of modernist political projects. The intersections of race and masculinity and changing attitudes toward homosexuality are also studied. This broad range is intended to give students a solid grounding in the academic study of masculinity as well as an understanding of how easily masculinity can change and how regularly it acts as a vehicle for other political concerns. Students are not expected to already have a background in gender theory or the study of masculinity. In addition to its focus on a conceptual problem (how and why normative ideals of masculinity can change) this course seeks to provide students with an opportunity to improve their interpretative and research techniques as well as their expressive and rhetorical skills. Course Website: https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/history/