Browsing by Subject "hypermasculinity"

Based on semi-structured interviews with seven Jamaican male dancehall dancers and one dancehall DJ, this study aims to trace some of the multiple dimensions and configurations of dancehall masculinities among male dancehall dancers in Jamaica. I explore how the dancers perform masculinities by analyzing wealth and material possessions as extensions of dancers’ masculinity, gyalis (read: lotharios) culture and homophobia, and dancehall sex/romance tourism as a site for erotic racism and constructing masculinity. Primary emphasis is placed on attempting to trace the cultural logic behind the construction of masculinities. The theoretical framework draws heavily on Judith Butler’s analysis of gender performativity, Raewyn Connell’s theorization of hegemonic masculinity, Kimberlee Crenshaw’s conceptualization of intersectionality as well as postcolonial and critical race theories. Ultimately, this study is about marginalized Black masculinities in a specific context, namely, among Jamaican male dancehall dancers. I argue that complex historical processes and intersections inform dancehall dancers’ performances of masculinity and any attempt to understand these performances needs to pay attention to these longer histories that include slavery and colonialism. Dancehall’s cultural production remains primarily in the hands of African descent Black youth, particularly men, from Jamaica’s inner cities and lower classes whose lives are characterized by various forms of structural violence. Against this background I argue that masculine performances among dancehall dancers reflect a claim to a gendered position of power as the dancers attempt to transgress subordinated roles designated for them in terms of race and class. I also argue that the ways in which dancers perform masculinities challenge Jamaica’s hegemonic masculinity, in particular its notions of middle classness. However, at the same time certain notions of hegemonic masculinity, such as polygamous male heterosexuality or homophobia, are being reinforced. This creates a paradox so typical to dancehall as its cultural production simultaneously plays with and against the country’s hegemonic structures. Based on semi-structured interviews with seven Jamaican male dancehall dancers and one dancehall DJ, this study aims to trace some of the multiple dimensions and configurations of dancehall masculinities among male dancehall dancers in Jamaica. I explore how the dancers perform masculinities by analyzing wealth and material possessions as extensions of dancers’ masculinity, gyalis (read: lotharios) culture and homophobia, and dancehall sex/romance tourism as a site for erotic racism and constructing masculinity. Primary emphasis is placed on attempting to trace the cultural logic behind the construction of masculinities. The theoretical framework draws heavily on Judith Butler’s analysis of gender performativity, Raewyn Connell’s theorization of hegemonic masculinity, Kimberlee Crenshaw’s conceptualization of intersectionality as well as postcolonial and critical race theories. Ultimately, this study is about marginalized Black masculinities in a specific context, namely, among Jamaican male dancehall dancers. I argue that complex historical processes and intersections inform dancehall dancers’ performances of masculinity and any attempt to understand these performances needs to pay attention to these longer histories that include slavery and colonialism. Dancehall’s cultural production remains primarily in the hands of African descent Black youth, particularly men, from Jamaica’s inner cities and lower classes whose lives are characterized by various forms of structural violence. Against this background I argue that masculine performances among dancehall dancers reflect a claim to a gendered position of power as the dancers attempt to transgress subordinated roles designated for them in terms of race and class. I also argue that the ways in which dancers perform masculinities challenge Jamaica’s hegemonic masculinity, in particular its notions of middle classness. However, at the same time certain notions of hegemonic masculinity, such as polygamous male heterosexuality or homophobia, are being reinforced. This creates a paradox so typical to dancehall as its cultural production simultaneously plays with and against the country’s hegemonic structures.