The HIV and AIDS epidemic and violence against women and children are among the factors that brought an increased interest on issues of men and masculinities especially in sub-Saharan Africa since the turn of the new century. This interest has predominantly grown in the field of religion and theology. I here take note of Morrell’s (1998:613) assertion that it was the rise of Women’s Studies in Southern Africa which paradoxically resulted in new questions being asked about and renewed attention being focused on men. In this case, the intersection between religion and HIV and AIDS, is one that prompted the need to critically engage men on representation of masculinities within religious circles. In order to understand questions of masculinity in a study of this kind, the important contribution of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians (hereafter, the Circle) cannot be ignored or minimised.
3.3 The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians Engage Men towards
In seeking to systematically respond to the HIV and AIDS pandemic, the Circle made a call for action and transformation in the context of HIV and AIDS. The urgency to engage men proved unavoidable in this journey. Phiri (2009:116) points out that the Circle for the very first time invited male theologians to its 2007 pan-African conference on gender and HIV AND AIDS, thereby including a session on liberating masculinities.
Van Klinken (2011b:277) asserts that this move challenged male theologians in Africa to work on a project on masculinities, gender and HIV. The first outcome of this project as mentioned by van Klinken (2011b) was Redemptive Masculinities: Religion, Men, Gender-Based Violence and HIV, edited by Ezra Chitando (2010).43 These developments marked the beginning from which male theologians engaged with issues of masculinities from a religious and theological perspective. The voices of scholars in this field of research (especially Chitando, van Klinken and West) have elaborated the importance of acknowledging men’s socialisation into masculinities, which eventually reinforces gender inequalities. Interrogating religious beliefs that influence masculine ideals is therefore of importance in Christian theology, not only as a response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic, but as an interrogation of masculinities that emerge from within religious settings. The question that follows concerns how African male and female theologians have responded to the call in seeking to engage issues of masculinity.
3.3.1 African Men and Women Theologians Explore Redemptive Masculinities
The main focus of research in this area has been on aspects of problematic masculinities that inform negative ideas which often include dangerous and aggressive ways of being men.44 Chitando and Chirongoma (2008:51) in this case states that: “while being a male is a biological factor, the process of expressing manhood is informed by social, cultural and religious factors.” In actual fact, men with different religious values will have different ways of expressing their manhood (Chitando and Chirongoma 2008:57). Challenging the
43 Before the pan-African conference in 2007, the Journal of Gender and Religion in Africa dedicated one of its issues to focus on masculinities (see 2006, vol. 12, no.1). A year later, following the pan-African conference, the same journal dedicated another issue which addressed men and HIV and AIDS (see 2008, vol. 14, no. 1).
44 As used by Chitando and Chirongoma (2008:56), the phrase “dangerous masculinities” refers to the negative/stereotypical conceptions of manhood which emphasise exploitive and abusive aspects of manhood, including traits such as risky sexual behaviour, the abuse of drugs and alcohol and violence against women and children.
manner in which students are introduced to the various religions of the world in an apparent innocent way, Chitando and Chirongoma (2008) further question the way in which this enacts the role of religion in aiding dangerous masculinities. In stressing the role religion has on constructing masculinities, van Klinken makes a convincing case when he affirms:
The reason why men and masculinities are addressed by scholars in religion and theology is that several critical aspects of dominant masculinities are believed to be informed by religious beliefs and practices (2011b:278).
In the light of this observation, the awareness that religious belief contributes to the construction of gender ideologies is a step towards investigating how religious belief informs representation and construction of masculine identity. Morrell (2001b:7) puts forward the challenge to gender scholars to identify what forces operate to effect changes in masculinities, when, where and how such changes occur, and what their effects will be.
This challenge is picked up in this present study which investigates how faith discourses within Protestant Christianity influences construction of emerging masculinities.
Analytically, this opens up a space to explore how patterns of Charismatic, Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity and theology in particular, intersect with other socio- political, cultural and economic factors as forces that inform representations of masculinities.
Overall, it is not enough to interrogate how, for example Christian and cultural beliefs negatively socialise men and reinforce problematic representations and masculine practices. What emerges as important among most scholars is the constant need to explore the possibilities of utilising religious resources to transform men and the ideal of masculinities, an aim that is shared by this study. Central among scholars of gender and religion is a realisation that religion can be used as a tool towards transformation of masculinities (see van Klinken 2011b:283-288; Chitando and Chirongoma 2012). In their volume on Redemptive Masculinities: Men HIV and Religion, Chitando and Chirongoma (2012) have engaged the concept of “redemptive masculinities” as one that underlines the importance of religio-cultural resources in the emergence of liberating, “more peaceful and harmonious masculinities.” They contend that such redemptive masculinities evoke a spiritual dimension that seeks to develop masculinities that promote health and wellbeing for all (2012). In like manner, but focusing more
specifically on biblical notions of masculinity, West (2010) is credited with utilising the biblical text as a resource in constructing redemptive masculinities. The important question at this stage is: to what extent does the faith discourses at the MMC hold potential for transformative change? I will explore this question further in chapters six, seven and eight.
Chapter Summary
This chapter sought to establish the socio-religious, cultural, economic and political context in which representation and constructions of masculinities are inquired within the MMC. In the chapter, I highlight the background to studies of masculinities within South(ern) Africa with an aim to review literature on men and masculinity studies in this context of study. In the chapter, I have reviewed three categories of literature to assist in establishing the increased interest in religion and masculinity studies in South(ern) Africa.
First, I have highlighted some representation of masculinity in Pre-colonial Africa and how the intersection of colonialism and Christianity impacted on shaping perceptions of masculinities. Second, I have outlined multiple representations of hegemonies of masculinity in South Africa during the Apartheid era. I have demonstrated how categories of race and class have informed and influenced constructions of masculine identities in South Africa, resulting to aggressive forms of masculinities. Third, I have reviewed literature on the noted increase and interest on men and masculinities studies in Southern Africa. This, as I have shown, establishes the justification of studying masculinities from a religious and theological perspective in post-apartheid South Africa.
This then leads me to discuss the theological scope of this study in the next chapter. I describe the tenets of evangelicalism and Evangelical Christianity as expressed through the Mighty Men Conference.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE MIGHTY MEN’S CONFERENCE (MMC): AN EXPRESSION OF CHARISMATIC, EVANGELICAL AND
PENTECOSTAL CHRISTINIATY
The interpretation and control of a core symbolic system in the case of gender issues in the Evangelical subculture is not fixed and permanent but, on the contrary, is the result of an ongoing process of construction
(production), which entails a tremendous degree of negotiation characterised by conflict (Ingersoll 2003:16).