- Title
- 'Being called sisters': masculinities and black male nurses in South Africa
- Creator
- Kalemba, Joshua
- Relation
- Gender, Work and Organization Vol. 27, Issue 4, p. 647-663
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12423
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- This study contributes to an understanding of the geographies of masculinities, by demonstrating how black South African male nurses negotiate hegemonic masculinity through citing masculine gendered acts. The research draws on qualitative data gathered from interviews with 15 black male nurses aged between 26 and 50 years who have worked in the paediatric, trauma, orthopaedic, oncology and midwifery fields for a period of not less than two years. It is argued that the colonially imposed hierarchies of race, gender and occupation merge with culturally specific pre-existing African masculinities, and that this informed how the black male nurses experienced their gender identity in the occupation. The study demonstrates how, because of their career choice, the gender identities of the male nurses were positioned as marginalized and subordinate to the modes of a hegemonic masculinity, a gender identity only available to them momentarily. In this context, it was found that the modes of gender performativity in which the nurses negotiated and subverted their subordinate and marginal status was with the complicity of patients and other healthcare workers. This upheld the more generally assumed hegemony of masculinity in the hospital workplace. The study traces these experiences to the discourses of black masculinities during South Africa's pre-colonial, colonial and apartheid eras and in the present day. In doing so, this study contributes to an understanding of the geographies of masculinities by demonstrating the locally specific modes of masculine performativity through which black male nurses negotiate their gender in South Africa.
- Subject
- black male nurses; feminine occupation; hegemonic masculinity; performativity; SDG 3; SDG 5; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1444255
- Identifier
- uon:42250
- Identifier
- ISSN:0968-6673
- Rights
- This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Kalemba, Joshua. "'Being called sisters': masculinities and black male nurses in South Africa". Gender, Work and Organization Vol. 27, Issue 4, p. 647-663 (2020), which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12423. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
- Reviewed
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
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