My blog post was written on Saturday just before the banquet, after two days of great panels. Alas, technological problems delayed posting to today. Enjoy!

It’s hard not to notice the prevalence of masculinity at this year’s conference. On Sunday morning, I’m going to continue this trend with my paper on urban crisis and shifts in ideal manhood. My highlighting this fact shouldn’t be taken as a complaint (even if the stock and trade of any graduate student is originality), because each paper on manhood that I have heard has been incredibly interesting. The diversity of arguments presented has made the conference that much more stimulating. Prior to this weekend, I had not even considered a masculine identity of Vietnam draft dodgers outside a framework of emasculation or gender binaries. Nor had I given much thought to the many limitations imposed upon African American males by a socially constructed group narrative; it’s likely that next week I won’t be able to resist re-visiting DuBois’ “The Talented Tenth.” Panelists didn’t stop there- today included papers on masculinity as defined by and through processes of ‘becoming’; crisis of white masculinity caused by apocalyptic fears when black males enter public space; and comparisons of the cultural stability of Protestant vs Irish – Catholic masculine ethic.

Certainly masculinity hasn’t hogged the gender lime-light. Same-sex marriage, the family, women and femininity have also been discussed by attendees. But I just couldn’t help but point out how themes of crisis and emergency have brought manhood to the fore.

Maureen