Male (Un)Bonding: Men, Masculinities, and Homosocial Troubles: A Research Development Workshop and Interdisciplinary Networking Event
June 13-15, 2019
Bush House, King’s College London
Homosociality and all of its troubles (and attractions) demand urgent interrogation in light of ongoing and developing understandings of masculinity. More frequently than not, the acts, relations, and performances of male bonding function to reify patriarchal power, shoring up formal and informal regimes of control and domination. We see many sites that demand intervention including the formation and amplification of highly destructive forms of racist, sexist, homophobic, and xenophobic in-grouping, the very structures that support, protect, and encourage abuse by individuals in positions of power and fame, as well as broader concerns of ‘toxic masculinity.’ At the same time and not entirely disentangled from problems of homosociality, there may be forms of masculine bonding that hold strong attractions in contemporary culture, with male intimacy and allyship suggested as a correctives to patriarchal competition, isolation, and exclusion.
Male (Un)Bonding is a three-day workshop and networking event bringing together a group for researchers working on the study of contemporary and historical masculinities from multiple disciplines and scholarly backgrounds to consider the urgent question of the relationality of masculinities. How might we build on the foundational work on the topic to further theorize masculinity beyond identity and to think through the homosocial relations that produce and resist reactionary positions? How might destructive forms of masculinity be interrogated and dismantled at formative sites of masculine performance? Can we identify forms of homosocial interrelations in and beyond cis/trans and hetero/homosexual spectrums and binaries, and how might these forms model new ways of being together and social configurations?
Over the course of three days, researchers will take part in round-table discussions, project and funding workshops with experienced grant writers, and other activities, as well as having sustained and focused time to work on a piece of writing. The event will conclude with a half-day symposium of work-in-progress. Those who are beginning, developing, or in the midst of researching manuscript-length or other large-scale projects are particularly encouraged to apply as are those who have recently completed such work. The workshop organizers seek to include a diversity of disciplines ranging from the arts and humanities to the social sciences to STEM and encompassing literary, qualitative, quantitative, and artistic methodologies. Selected participants will be offered £300 (GBP) towards their travel and accommodation costs, and all meals over the course of three days will be provided.
Dr. Broderick Chow (Arts and Humanities, Brunel University London) and Dr. Eero Laine (Theatre and Dance, University at Buffalo, State University of New York) will lead and facilitate the workshop, which will also launch their new collaborative research project, Bros: Obvious Masculinity and Homosocial Performance.
Male (Un)Bonding is funded by Brunel University London’s Global Lives Research Centre.
Calls for Expressions of Interest
In order to apply, please submit an expression of interest letter of no more than two pages along with a current CV. In the letter, please note your current and future research interests and how these intersect with the theme of the workshop; what disciplinary expertise you might bring to the study of masculinities and relationality; and what potential interdisciplinary connections you might wish to make.
Please send EOIs to Workshop Leaders at broderick.chow@brunel.ac.uk and eerolain@buffalo.edu by Monday, 22 April 2019. All applicants will be informed by 3 May 2019.