Diasporic Masculinities: <i>Reflections on gendered, raced and classed displacements</i>

Abstract

This article is based on reflections that have grown during the ongoing research on construction of masculinities and sexualities in different diasporic spaces. By focusing on theoretical and contextual reflections regarding conditions of leaving, arrival and residency among Iranian-born men who live in Sydney, Stockholm and London, this article focuses on intersecting factors that construct masculinities in different diasporic spaces. Migratory masculine subjectivities are not only shifting and plural, but also reveal the multiple interactions of factors such as race, age, class, self and community, past and present, the political and the religious and through the continual negotiation of identity. The subject of men and masculinity formation has become a popular topic in Western academia in the last two decades (Brod & Kaufman 1994; Connell 1995). Moreover, in multicultural contexts, the conceptualisation of the Orientalist stereotypes of Middle Eastern men as nationalist heroes, oppressive and overprotective vis-à-vis the equality-oriented and liberated Western men is vastly embedded in the Orientalist discourses (Connell 2007;Khosravi 2009). Previous writings on gender in the Middle East and Middle Eastern diasporic contexts, on the other hand, have mainly focused on women (Bauer 2000; Ghoussoub & Sinclair-Webb 2000). As a result, studies on men, masculinity and male sexuality in (and from) Middle Eastern contexts remains poorly examined. For the ongoing research, my aim is to examine the underresearched area of (re)presentation of masculinity and sexuality of Iranian men living in three heterogeneous cities: Sydney, Stockholm and London. Specifically, I will investigate the effect of Iranian Islamic cultures and socialisation, migration or displacement experiences on the men's practices of masculinity and sexuality, and how these influences may complicate their (re) presentation and perceptions of their masculinities and sexual experiences.Through ethnographical accounts, this ongoing research aims to examine how normative values and social practices surrounding masculinity enter men's personal narratives, and how they articulate the cultural, social and religious values of masculinity and sexuality in their narrations of their everyday experiences in different diasporic contexts. Moreover, by studying the impact of Orientalist views on the Iranian/Middle Eastern/Muslim men's identity formation in the contemporary multicultural contexts, this study aims to explore how Iranian men negotiate masculinity and sexuality as they confront the variety of Orientalist stereotypes. For the purposes of this paper, however, I reflect mainly over some of the theoretical, contextual and methodological concerns that shape the current study.The participants of this study were selected via snowball method and were chosen through existing networks known to me as a result of my inquiries, familiarity and involvement with the Iranian communities in the different cities. The study sample is vastly heterogeneous with reg...

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