Rural masculinity in protest: farmer’s political movements in modern Poland as sites of rural masculinities’ reproduction

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article examines how farmers participating in the Polish rural political movement Agrounia (re)enact a certain brand of rural masculinity, opposed to the hegemonic model of urban, political masculinities. Agrounia, a political movement and party, is concerned with economic issues affecting farmers; however, the article poses that its’ members strive to elevate the status of rural masculinity by contrasting it with the hegemonic, urban model. Agrounia uses a discursive dichotomy between rural, ‘true’ masculinity (hardworking, honest, straightforward) and urban, ‘fake’ masculinity (lazy, dishonest, fake, dismissive). A clashing point between the masculinities is the protest esthetic, with hegemonic, urban masculinity opposing Agrounia’s chosen methods of protest, painting them as vulgar, boorish, unnecessary, cruel. These concerns are, in turn, considered to be an expression of the effeminacy of urban men, their delicacy, sensibility. The battle for recognition and status between the two masculinities is fought over the monopoly on honesty and truth, the status of ‘true’ masculinity, with both sides entrenched in the practices that are supposed to ensure their domination. The article aims to analyze how members of Agrounia and protests participants construct rural protest masculinity; second, to analyze how this masculinity is presented and depicted in the analyzed newspaper coverage.