Still Fathers? Social Change and “Crisis of Masculinities” in the Suburbs of Bukavu (Democratic Republic of Congo)

Abstract

The research I carried on during the Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology allowed me to examine the social and cultural construction of masculinities in Bukavu, an oriental city of Democratic Republic of Congo. In this paper I will discuss how the ideal image of man (and father) as a breadwinner loses his sense in a precarious economic and social context of post-conflict; how most men of the city try to hold the hegemony and the power acquired with time, while they often are in the margins of society, family, and economy.  In order to give voice to men's experiences and feelings, I also analyse the reconfiguration of fatherhood, as a space of conflict and resilience.

Keywords: masculinities, fatherhood, social change, tradition, Congo.