Objective of the Summer School

With this summer school we wanted to redress the lack of a theoretical framework of the concept "political masculinities" by introducing young academics to the concept and by explicitly welcoming a questioning of the current definition and strongly encouraging its modification and improvement.

We discussed new, more precise, definitions; inquired into the value of this new analytical category for the participants’ own work; critically reviewed the application of the concept within different academic disciplines and European cultures; and explored suitable methods for the analysis of “political masculinities”. For this purpose, theories, methods and case studies from political science, masculinity studies, sociology and cultural studies were presented and discussed in dialogue with the participants’ own work.

In addition, juxtaposing the participants own application of the concept of “political masculinities” in their academic discipline, (national/ethnic) culture and social and political environments with that of others enabled them to also critically question and evaluate their work and engage in a fruitful debate about the merits of theoretical tools in general and the concept of “political masculinities” in particular.