Interrogating Conceptions and Perceptions of Back Maleness, Masculinity, and Manhood in Education and Society

• In Event: Brothers in the Academy: Critical Dialogues on Black Maleness, Masculinity, and Manhood in Education

Abstract

This literature review critically examines the constructs of Black maleness, masculinity, and manhood within education, with a particular focus on how these intersect with racism, power, and institutional dynamics. While scholarship on gender in education has grown substantially, much of the discourse centers on binary and hegemonic framings that either essentialize male identity or ignore the sociocultural specificity of Black masculinities. This review synthesizes interdisciplinary scholarship across education, sociology, and Black studies, to unpack and delineate between the historical and contemporary ways Black maleness, masculinities, and manhood are conceptualized and performed in schools, universities, and other learning environments. Central to this inquiry is a recognition that maleness, masculinity, and manhood are not static classifications but are dynamic existential realities that are informed and shaped by socially constructed, racialized, and context-dependent phenomena, including personal/familial experiences, cultural narratives, and institutional power.

The review is organized into three thematic strands. First, it traces the historical construction of masculinity in Western educational discourse, illuminating how schools have served as sites for reinforcing patriarchal and colonial norms of male behavior, often privileging whiteness, heteronormativity, and economic productivity. In contrast, non-dominant masculinities—particularly those of Black and Indigenous males—have been systematically pathologized, disciplined, or rendered invisible. This section highlights foundational and contemporary works that problematize the school-to-prison pipeline, discipline disparities, and deficit framings of male students of color.

Second, the review explores alternative frameworks that center Black maleness and masculinity not as crises to be solved, but as complex, multifaceted identities rooted in community, resistance, care, and cultural resilience. Drawing from the works of scholars such as Derrick Brooms, Pedro Noguera, Jordonna Malton, and the culturally responsive interventions of Jawanza Kunjufu, this section interrogates how Black boys and men develop academic identities in the face of sociopolitical exclusion. It also considers how schools can serve as spaces of healing and affirmation when masculinities are engaged critically and relationally.

Third, the literature review critically engages contemporary literature to examine how normative constructs of Black manhood reproduce harm in educational contexts. This section highlights how misconceptions about gender roles contribute to anti-Blackness, misandry, misogyny, gender-based violence, and emotional repression, ultimately undermining the development and wellbeing of all Black men/males and their relationships with women. This section explores the possibilities of de/reconstructing Black manhood through critical forms of analysis, pedagogy, andragogy, mentorship, self-awareness, and cultural meaning making.

Utilizing educational research, this literature review offers different perspectives related to the intersectional complexities of Black maleness, masculinity, and manhood. It calls for a reorientation in how we understand and engage Black males/men in education—one that refuses deficit and problematic narratives and embraces a vision of liberatory, justice-centered perceptions of Black masculinity, maleness, and manhood. By critically exploring the relationship between gendered identity and educational structures, this work seeks to contribute to ongoing conversations around equity, belonging, and humanization in schools and higher education. Ultimately, it presents the need to revisit Black men/male identity in ways that support the academic, emotional, and communal lives of Black men/males.

Authors

• Jawanza Kalonji Rand, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Christopher E. Darby, ARE-LO Strategies