Decolonizing Care: Hegemonic Masculinity, Caring Masculinities, and the Material Configurations of Care

Abstract

Care is a global issue of critical importance in the formation of masculinities. The paper argues for a need to “decolonize” and “degender” care. In dialogue with Connell’s “hegemonic masculinity,” the article explores its conceptual resilience, advocating for further initiatives to engage with transforming the gender order. The concept of “caring masculinities” aims to achieve this, with the study providing a critical evaluation of the potential of this framework. It demonstrates how caring masculinities may augment dominant masculinities, consolidate colonial and gendered regimes, and produce care as a new masculine hegemony in neoliberal economies. However, it is argued that caring masculinities can progress by engaging feminist and decolonial insights on the structural, material, and regional disparities in care. It concludes by putting “care theory” into “care practice.” This entails mapping how caring masculinities is surfacing transnationally in pedagogy, policy and practice, and the times and spaces where it might proliferate.