The Embodied Performance of Congolese Masculinities in Muizenberg, Cape Town

Abstract

In the following article I assert that Congolese masculinities are complex, temporal and contextual presentations that shift in response to other masculinities and femininities within the transnational social field. Further in the context of an alienating host country, Congolese men through their bodies lay claim to non-local and unfamiliar space through embodied performances of masculinity. In short, the creation of Congolese gendered ways of being in the receiving country of South Africa is a dialogic process that refers to the Congolese cultural habitus, yet is created within the specificities of the South African socio-cultural landscape.

Keywords: Embodiment, Masculinities, Congolese, Transmigrants, Habitus, Class