Negotiating Migrant Masculinities 

Online Panel Discussion: Negotiating Migrant Masculinities
As part of the M3 Exhibition: Let no one mistake us for the fruit of Violence curated by Vidisha Fadescha, the Goethe-Institut Bangladesh together with the Drik Picture Library hosted an online Panel Discussion titled, "𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬” with academicians sharing an intersectional perspective, engaging with different forms of migrant masculinities (i.e. masculinities in migration across economies, cultures, and continents) from intersectional perspectives, moderated by Oliur Sun, Sunyatavadin, Writer and Thinker .
Through a cross-disciplinary conversation, the aim was to unpack ideas of masculinity and explore through academic knowledge and lived experiences how different forms of masculinities act/re-enact/change through processes of migration conditioned by different economic and socio-cultural settings from Bangladeshi workers in the Middle East to academicians in the West. Situating changing forms of masculinities in space/s and times may also help us better understand masculinities in migration (to, from, and within Bangladesh).
About the Discussion:
To historicize the discussion, Professor Naeem discusses the ideas of masculinity in the 1970s global left in a world of increased migration following a discussion about his film , 'Last Man in Dhaka Central' where he highlights the interrelation between 'doomed masculinity', proletarian unity and utopian hope as experienced by a Dutch journalist in a majority world country back in 1975.
Professor Mashrur begins by discussing why certain formations or conceptualizations of masculinities such as 'deshi masculinities' are problematic. From his study on representations of masculinities in Bangladeshi visual discourse, he shares how he thinks notions of patriarchy and heterosexuality vis-a-vis capitalist and consumerist concerns shape the cultural construction of migrant men (esp. workers) and masculinities. Referring to masculine modes of narration in texts he explores the spectacle of masculinity and its relation to masculine victimhood.
Professor Rasel talks about the gay/queer subjectivity formation through displacement, citizenship, border, and loneliness shaped by competing forms of masculinities and masculine structures from his lived and research experience. He also highlights how queer Muslim immigrants view masculinities in Bangladesh as 'the white imperial powers save them from brown men' along with how as a filmmaker, archivist, and academician working in the US, he configures masculinities in cinematic and community spaces?
Professor Dina shares her perspective on how masculinities operate in the formation of secular/state violence vs religious violence and the role that transnational capital play in formulating hybrid masculinities in Silicon Valley where big data companies fuel authoritarian terror and extremism in the majority world producing unmournable bodies. As an anthropologist from the global South working in the North, she shares how masculinities are performed and negotiated within the academia?
The Panelists:
Naeem Mohaiemen is a Filmmaker, Photographer, Writer, Academic and Visual Artist. He uses film, photography, installation, and essays to research South Asia's postcolonial markers (the Indo-Pakistan War of 1947-1948 and the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971). His projects on the 1970s revolutionary left explores the role of misrecognition within global solidarity.
Mashrur Shahid Hossain, is a professor of English from Bangladesh visiting Northwest Indiana as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence. His research looks at world films and literature, with a focus on American, Bangladeshi, British, and Indian texts and develops a framework for reading the sexual victimization of men.
Rasel Ahmed is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre, Film and Media Arts at The Ohio State University. His field of interest includes. Experimental and documentary filmmaking, Gender and sexuality, Migration Studies, Political organizing and archiving.
Dina M. Siddiqi teaches in the Faculty of Liberal Studies at New York University. Her research joins critical development studies, transnational feminist theory, and the anthropology of Islam and human rights. Her publications can be found at www.researchga...
Text: Oliur Sun