Please note - This is a hybrid event and will also be available on Zoom.

Speaker: Romitesh Kant

Experts in masculinity studies have argued that to address persistent gender inequalities in politics, we must redirect our analytical gaze to the overrepresentation of men. In political processes, masculinities are so deeply embedded that they go unnoticed because they are so obvious. This proposed research will respond to that call by focusing on the Fijian political context and analysing the construction of masculinities in Fiji’s political culture vis-a-vis political parties. The study’s central claim is that power dynamics in politics are gendered, requiring a deep exploration of the processes involved in their construction. The mutual reproduction of state power and masculine power negates some authority within the state and the public. Tracing the masculinities produced and performed is expected to reveal how male dominance and state power are multi-layered, valorised, and challenged. Drawing upon scholarship on masculinities, feminist institutionalism and political decolonisation, this study intends to analyse how masculinities and politics are mutually constructed and reinforced in Fiji.