The aim of this workshop is to explore the impact of global interactions on the changing conceptualization of masculinity in different societies. From the nineteenth century on, ideas, ideals, practices, and images that referred to the way men acted as men increasingly spread around the globe. Political, military, economic, and cultural connections led to conflicts with established notions of male qualities and to the questioning and transformation of masculinity concepts in Europe, America, Asia and other parts of the world. Mutual perceptions and attributions influenced how actors reflected on manliness and conducted themselves in relation to their manhood.

At the workshop, historians with different regional specializations will introduce the respective state of the field in the research of men and masculinities. They will present specific cases and examples of masculinity concepts, including topics such as male sexuality, the relationship between men and women, and martial masculinity. By juxtaposing and comparing various regions as well as aspects and concepts of masculinity, the workshop will lay open hitherto neglected questions, themes, and fields of future research on the production of masculinities in cross-cultural interaction. 

Program

10.30      Arrival

10.45     Welcome and Introduction: Nicolas Schillinger (Berlin)

Section 1, Chair: Martin Dinges (Stuttgart)

11.00      Ulrike Schaper (Berlin): “ ‘German men have a good reputation around the world’: Sex tourism, mail order brides and the crisis of masculinity in West Germany”

11.45      Harriete Zurndorfer (Leiden): “Polygamy and Masculinity in China, Past and Present”

12.30      Lunch Break

Section 2, Chair: Heike Frick (Berlin)

13.30      Robert Kramm-Masaoka (Konstanz): “Sex, Prostitution, and Hegemony: Male Rivalry and Complicity during the US-Occupation of Japan”

14.15      Dolf Neuhaus (Frankfurt): “Christian Bushido: The YMCA and Christian Manliness in Korea and Japan, 1900–1920”

15.00      Coffee Break

15.10     Final Discussion

15.30      Departure