Spatialized leisure-pleasures, global flows and masculine distinctions

Abstract

Drawing from our ‘place-based global ethnographies’ of out-of-the-way places in Australia, this paper explores ways that spatialized leisure-pleasures inform the production of intergenerational masculinities in globalizing remote places. We examine three kinds of amusement and three accompanying shades of masculinity; the sacrosanct, subversive and scorned. Sacrosanct masculinities involve spatially embedded, culturally sanctified leisure-pleasures and intergenerational continuity. Subversive masculinities involve leisure-pleasures that are spatially embedded but are also both culturally endorsed and unendorsed. While they involve the reproduction of sacrosanct masculinities, they usually also entail certain forms of cultural defiance across generations. Scorned masculinities involve leisure pursuits that tend to be spatially and culturally disembedded and unendorsed. Although scorned, they may also invoke the sacrosanct. These diverse masculine hues animate varying combinations of affective gender intensity. We illustrate these hues and explicate the links between masculinities, the social order and territoriality through the concepts of plaisir and jouissance. We seek to add to conceptualizations of masculinity in two ways. The first is by bringing together two lines of inquiry; those on masculinity and spatiality and those on masculinity and leisure. The second is by exploring conceptually and empirically the gendered spatial and temporal politics of masculine leisure-pleasures.