Neomuhafazakar Sosyalleşme Mekanları: Yeni Nesil Nargile Kafelerde Erkeklikler
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Date
2022-05-28Author
Uğurlu, Duru Başak
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The concept of hegemonic masculinity introduced by Raewyn Connell and her colleagues, in its
first formulation, tries to understand how men monopolize their positions of power and how they
maintain male-dominated relations. At the same time, while this concept examines an ideal
masculinity position that can be shaped according to the specific conditions of each society as a
model, it does not focus solely on the power relations between men but focuses on the social,
cultural, and political construction of different masculinity positions as a result of these power based relations as well. Since the Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities (CSMM) gained
momentum over time, as a result of the criticisms brought to this concept, Connell and
Messerschmidt presented a reformulation of the concept. Yet, in its amplified form, gender-based
unequal relations now operate more implicitly, and the studies to be made to understand
masculinities today will be based on local patterns– the importance of intersectionality of
differences, life experiences, and, how men strategically respond to social transformations is
emphasized. This field study, fueled by reformulation, deals with the construction of different
masculinities and how they intersect in hookah cafes, which were very popular before the
pandemic and were closed due to the suspension of social life for a while. Furthermore, by
interpreting the field findings with the feminist standpoint theory, which makes the identity of the
researcher an important part of the study, and the intersectional approach, which is functional in
understanding different masculinities, this field study shows that hookah cafes serve for male
socialization and how male regulars are gathered around the hookah material despite their
differences. Besides, this field study focuses on how each male regular configures their own
masculinities from their own life stories and how the spatial practices of the regulars here, together
with the mentioned cafes, were affected after the pandemic as well. As a result of the fieldwork,
it has been observed that, in the axis of the transformation of social life in today's Turkey, Hookah
cafes have intensely conservative symbols and spatial practices, and these places appeal to a new
understanding of entertainment. At the same time, these places are an example of a new place for
masculinities, where the gender of the place is more implicitly shaped by separating from other
places in which men prefer to spend time, while both holding different masculinities together and
revealing a new hybrid masculinity pattern that can be dubbed as hookah cafe masculinity.