The construction of masculinity is becoming a field of growing interest because it is opening up new and fascinating perspectives, thus adding a further dimension to Gender Studies. However, so far the analysis has focused mostly on homosexuality. By contrast, the author examines social processes and relations that constitute hegemonic masculinity, the central model that attempts to subordinate alternative masculinities, and which is the model of male domination, compulsory monogamy, heterosexuality and reproduction. It is fascinating to follow the author as he gradually unfolds this kind of masculinity in its nearly pure state. Moreover, he involves the reader in his critical reflections on the material and invites him or her to give some thought to such wider questions as whether the hegemonic male is more resistant to change in oral cultures than in urban settings, or up to which point the agents of domination are also its victims. In fact, the author concludes that the hegemonic male is an ideal model practically unattainable by any single man, which exerts over all men a strong controlling power and often forces on them ritualization of everyday behavior that leads to an impoverishment of their lives.

Miguel Vale de Almeida is lecturer of Anthropology at I.S.C.T.E., Lisbon. He is also a political and social activist in Portugal, and a fiction writer.

Figure: Genealogical Chart Showing Kinship and Relations between Main Informants

Chapter 1. A Home for a Stranger: The Anthropologist's Construction of a Community
Chapter 2. Blood, Sweat, and Semen: Masculinities in the Village
Chapter 3. From the Land to Stone: Work, Power, and Conflict
Chapter 4. In the Company of Men: Masculine Sociabilities
Chapter 5. Hearts of Stone? The Gendered Poetics of Emotions
Chapter 6. Excursio: For an Anthropological Approach to Masculinity

Perspectives II
Bibliography
Index