Masculinity and Affectedness: An Intersectional Perspective on Gender, Power, and Activism in the Global South
Masculinity and Affectedness: An Intersectional Perspective on Gender, Power, and Activism in the Global South

Summary/Abstract: Based on the concept of ‘affectedness’ (or ‘Betroffenheit’, Mies 1978), this articleattempts to demonstrate how all participants in research, education, and social activism in theMiddle East and North Africa (MENA) are impacted by the lack of a stable social environment,which is seen as the bedrock of scholarship by mainstream Northern theories and scientificmethodologies. Researchers, academics and activists – as part of civil society – must deal with thisintentional lack of security, social justice and freedom. In it we can recognize a form of eliteproduced, and potentially indefinite, postcolonial, systemic liminality. Whether women or men,from the Global South or North, we should consider how the topics we are studying and theconditions under which we work impact us individually and collectively. Inversely, we shoulddetermine how our endeavors directly impact the lives and environment of the subjects we areinteracting with. Reflection on the impact of affectedness-based research methods in the MiddleEast, and their application to work with men and masculinities in the region, is the maincontribution of this article.

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