Men and Masculinities in the Global South: A Southern Perspective

'Men and Masculinities in the Global South: A Southern Perspective' is a pioneering collection that places Southern voices, practices, and contexts at the centre of global masculinities research. For too long, the field of Men and Masculinities Studies (MMS) has been shaped by theories generated in the Global North. This volume responds by foregrounding scholarship rooted in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and other Southern regions, showing that the Global South is not a periphery but a vibrant source of theoretical innovation and critical practice.
Organised in two parts, the book moves from thematic analyses to regionally grounded case studies. Part I examines key issues such as the history of MMS in the North and South, male healthcare, violence, activism, music, and literature. Part II highlights the lived realities of masculinities (geography of masculinities) across Chile, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Zambia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, among other locations, illustrating how local histories and political economies shape gendered experiences in diverse ways. Contributors engage both with established frameworks – such as Raewyn Connell’s Southern Theory, among others – and with fresh conceptual tools that expand comparative and transnational research.
Equally distinctive is the book’s collaborative method. Emerging from an open call for chapters, it fosters an “invisible college” of scholars, activists, and practitioner-researchers working across disciplines, languages, and borders. This approach not only diversifies the field but also strengthens South–South and South–North exchanges in MMS.
Accessible and rigorous, this collection will serve undergraduate and postgraduate students in Gender Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Development, and Public Health. It is equally relevant for NGOs, educators, policymakers, and professionals engaged in gender justice, health, and violence prevention. As a reference text, teaching aid, and catalyst for new scholarship, 'Men and Masculinities in the Global South' affirms the South as an indispensable site of knowledge production and a driver of global debates on gender and social change.

José Loureiro holds a PhD in Sociology and is an Associate Researcher at Candido Mendes University (IUPERJ). He first trained in Psychology at UNISINOS and later advanced his academic formation at the Universities of Bologna and Padua, subsequently completing an MA in Group Psychotherapy at Goldsmiths, University of London, as well as formal photography training at the University of the Arts London. Beginning his career with pioneering research on AIDS for the State Health Authority of Porto Alegre/RS in the late 1980s, he has since developed a multidisciplinary trajectory as an independent researcher, photographer, curator, and psychologist. He has published widely in books and academic journals and has exhibited and curated in galleries and museums. His publications and exhibitions include, among others, 'A Mediterranean Perspective on the Art Therapist’s Sexual Orientation' (2002); 'What Can a Man Do with a Camera? Exploring Masculinities with Phototherapy' (2020); 'Bologna in Chiaroscuro: Between Photography and Iconography' (2024); and '30 Years of Masculinities by Raewyn Connell: A Book That Changed How We See Gender and Men' (2025).

History of men and masculinities studies; Southern Theory and Global South epistemologies; masculinities in Latin America, India, Africa, and Central Asia; Hindu and Muslim masculinities; post-Soviet and postcolonial gender orders; media, literature, and cultural representations of masculinities; class, power, education, and hegemonic masculinities; men, violence, land ownership, and economic inequality; masculinities, migration, ambition, and filial relations; men in health, care, and religion; transgender men; neoliberalism, education, and working-class masculinities; geography of masculinities; Catholic counselling, marriage, and schooling; Global South–Global North relations