Affect and the history of masculinities

Abstract

Purpose

Many scholarly disciplines are currently engaged in a turn to affect, paying close attention to emotion, feeling and sensation. The purpose of this paper is to locate affect in relation to masculinity, time and space.

Design/methodology/approach

It suggests that historically, in a range of settings, men have been connected to one another and to women, and these affective linkages tells much about the relational quality and texture of historically experienced masculinities.

Findings

Spatial settings, in turn, facilitate, hinder and modify expressions and experiences of affect and social connectedness. This paper will bring space and time into conversation with affect, using two examples from late nineteenth-century New Zealand.

Originality/value

If masculinities scholars often focus on what divides men from women and men from each other, the paper might think about how affect connects people.

Citation

Brickell, C. (2014), "Affect and the history of masculinities", Qualitative Research Journal, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 28-40. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-03-2014-0005