I always view the chorus in terms of an attraction to someone, although i'm not sure what the first line means to me yet. After that though i think "forget your perfect offering" means something like you don't have to be perfect.
A pretty obvious suggestion, but the thing i love about reading the posts is hearing everyone's take on the lyrics and what they mean to individual people. I've decided on this song for my funeral, not because I think the song is that sad, but the lyrics plus the tune in the context of a funeral will have everyone bawling like babies : Thanks for the posts all yous above, they have made me think more deeply about the lyrics TMR on November 12, General Comment I think this song is also a reminder that in the grand scheme of things all you can do is move forward and do the best you can with what you have.
Just sayin. QueenieB on October 10, Forster spichtinger. It is a humiliating outlook - though the greater the darkness, the brighter shine the little lights, reassuring one another, signalling: "Well, at all events, I'm still here. I don't like it very much, but how are you? Signals of the invincible army! Things are crap - of course they are, they always have been - but oh well, never mind. Carry on regardless: make the most of it. The crack is how the light gets in.
You'll be hurt, you'll be screwed over, everything that is sacred will be rendered profane - but remember the words of the wise man. This too shall pass. And when you're tired, cold, ready to surrender - that's just when love will come to you. To make it all worthwhile. It is a tremendously hopeful message. In spite of all this adversity, well, there's still beauty.
There's always something worth living for. General Comment Thanks. This is one terrific song and now it has a new look. General Comment i agree the chorus is saying its the flawed things that are the most beautiful because they are the ones with character. It also seems to say that everything is flawed in a way. There is, after all, a crack in everything, so he sings. By the way, that's an interesting thing to say about imagine, but I think even if everything in "Imagine" were to become true, there'd still be plenty 'interesting' things in the world.
In other words, there'd probably still be suffering etc. They not only enact certain masculinities during conflict, but are very often the new masculine custodians of the peace. Deconstructing their motives and talking about transforming their militant masculinities within the context of an often fragile peace can be seen as anti-peace process, rather than a genuine concern with sustainable peace.
Arguably, due to the literature on men and masculinities accumulated over the decades largely focusing on Western men and very often American college students specifically , who tend to be less impacted upon by war or civil strife in terms of massive intra-state conflict, the field naturally leans away from the relationship between masculinity, war and peacebuilding in fragile states.
Although men and masculinity studies has a rich and long tradition in considering the role of masculinity within formal armies say of the West , the focus is rather less developed when it comes to thinking about active guerrilla armies along with child soldiers and many auxiliary civilians in support roles and the ways they reconstitute or transform or not masculinities as societies move from war to peace.
Third, mainstream masculinities analysis has been accused of focusing on men and their relations to other men, and of treating women as universal and largely invisible persons Dowd, The crisis discourse implies that the insecurity of men is brought on by social changes in which so-called traditional masculine roles have become outdated and dysfunctional.
To deal with this, men, or so the popular argument goes, need to recognise their pain and victimhood, and the impact of the emotional and even physical damage caused by certain types of masculinity and then reform. For example, an acontextual discussion of false equality between men and women with regard to certain issues can emerge. This can result, for example, in focusing on men as victims of domestic violence as if the issues are of the same magnitude or concern the same dynamics as violence against women.
Finally, others maintain that the blame for the limited scholarship on masculinity within mainstream feminist studies has been due to the failure of feminists themselves. The result has been an under-developed theoretical analysis.
Alilunas, , p. Clearly, therefore, what we know is that the study of masculinity, particularly in peacebuilding and transitional justice contexts, is still developing or at best is gradually emerging. Dowd concludes that the field of masculinity studies and feminist theory are equally guilty of some theoretical blindness: Women disappear frequently, or appear only as universal persons, in masculinities analysis.
In the same way that men are uni-dimensional and essentialized in feminist theory, so too are women in masculinities theory p. I will return to this point in the concluding part of the article. Searching for the cracks As noted the study of masculinities in peacebuilding and transitional justice is at best described as emerging, in this section of the paper I will outline some of the work that is developing but more importantly highlight what can be called the cracks or fissures evident in this embryonic scholarship.
I will conclude the article by outlining the importance of these fissures and relate this back to the prospects for the study of masculinity in the peacebuilding and transitional justice fields. Before discussing these fissures however it is necessary, for those not familiar with the masculinities literature, to outline a few definitions of terms that will help frame the arguments that follow. Conflict and peace One of the challenges in presenting the arguments that follow is that the field of transitional justice and peacebuilding itself is fraught with false distinctions and categorisations that work against an analysis of masculinity.
I too will have to use some of these less than perfect distinctions in this article e. While all contexts differ, this article reflects on cases in which armed conflict of varying intensities has taken place that has seen not only the loss of life and a range of other human rights violations for example, torture, rape but also the destruction of infrastructure and livelihoods.
Although normally applied to inter-state conflict, most of the remarks made in this article concern intra-state conflict. After the violent political conflict ends some sort of peace process unfolds. This can include high-level political agreements, constitutional changes, the implementation of justice strategies e. In reality these processes are seldom linear, and reconstruction involves many processes that are not always captured by phrases such as peacebuilding or transitional justice.
Masculinities The concept of masculinity is a fraught concept. That said, most theorists and researchers working on this subject argue that it is more accurate to talk of masculinities than of masculinity Brittan, ; Connell, d; Whitehead, and there as many masculinities as there are men MacInnes, Throughout this article I will refer to masculinity at times, but it should be taken as read that I am talking about the social construction Clatterbaugh, ; Connell, a; Messerschmidt, of multiple forms of masculinity in any given context.
It is also now firmly established that masculinities are not uniform and that power relations exist within them. Hegemonic masculinity was distinguished from other masculinities, especially subordinated masculinities. Hegemonic masculinity was not assumed to be normal in the statistical sense; only a minority of men might enact it.
But it was certainly normative. Some of these and certainly not all will be touched upon later in the article. The cultural and political economy of militarised masculinity that is constructed by both men and women has been identified as key to violence during times of political strife and afterwards Theidon, Enacting such masculinities in turn leads to further entrenchment of such behaviours and cycles of violence.
Over the last two decades a substantial body of literature has emerged, along with empirical studies and literature reviews among many others see Kent, ; Kirby, ; Miranda, ; Skjelsbaek, ; Wood, , which shows how violent masculinities in particular are linked to war rape and other forms of sexual violence.
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission TRC is criticised for its narrow focus on individual, physical forms of harm that underplayed the everyday experience of women Ross, A narrow view of violations could also lead to a gendered hierarchy of suffering which focuses primarily on women even if more men are directly affected by what is considered conflict-related violence Goldblatt, More recently, scholars have also started to question not only the hypervisibility of sexual violence in international peacebuilding efforts and allied scholarship, but also the way sexual violence has been characterised in the literature.
Erikson Baaz and Stern have provided the most detailed study in this regard. Other scholars too have now shown that there is a great variation in the instances of war-time rape and a plethora of reasons for it taking place or not in different contexts Wood, ; Cohen, This has to some degree provided some impetus to enhance the gendered focus of transitional justice mechanisms such as truth commissions , but it also highlights how masculinity in societies emerging from conflict has been used in a limited way, that is to explain the roots of sexual and militarised violence rather than as core to a framework for a wider understanding of peacebuilding post-conflict.
Continuities and discontinuities of militarised violence The issue of how different forms of violence mutate and change from a period of intense civil conflict into the so-called peacebuilding context is a further area of significance discussed in some of the peacebuilding and transitional justice literature.
Much of this work has focused particularly on paramilitaries and combatants. In societies emerging from political conflict such as South Africa or Northern Ireland , violence is often spoken about as deeply gendered and linked to masculinities which remain pervasive in the post-Agreement period.
Some have contended that, for example, violent masculinities of the anti-apartheid era have become even more violent in the present South Africa Walker, a. Others too have argued that, although acknowledging multiple forms of masculinity, there is often a continuation of a warrior tradition of resistance in contemporary South Africa politics Suttner, Similarly in Timor-Leste, the resistance narrative that lauds militarised masculine figures and roles continues to have ramifications in the society today Kent, Similar arguments have also been made in Northern Ireland Ashe, ; Ashe, After conflict, men often use domestic and other forms of violence and cohesion to reassert their dominance, undermining wartime gains Meintjies et al.
Emasculation co-existing with the glorification of past political violence within a context of brutal living conditions and deprivation, are routinely identified in the literature as key to the ongoing manifestations of violent masculinities as societies ostensibly transition away from political violence.
It is ubiquitously asserted that demobilisation can often lead to a sense of emasculation and a resulting desire in some men, both ex-combatants and security forces, to reassert their power through violence Gear, Enforced dependence and destitution often the consequences of war are also said to be experienced in particular emasculating ways by some men Sankey, In a situation where men were deprived of their masculine roles, men use their physical strength, the one masculine attribute not affected by their social deprivation, to try to gain control in their environment Hollander, As a male participant in a research study conducted by myself and others in South Africa noted Hamber, ; Hamber et al.
And that weakness right now is sexual weakness. That we can always rape you, we can physically show you our strength. In summary, research from across the globe has proven that there is a relation between disempowered men, thwarted masculinities, and violent and destructive behaviour Hollander, ; Jewkes, , p. Although this thesis is now fairly well-established, there also seems to be a growing scholarship that is seeking to understand the discontinuities and not only the continuities between past and present in societies emerging from conflict.
It has been empirically shown that rape is not inevitable in war and that not all armed groups, either from non-state actors or state militaries, commit sexual violence Wood, , either during or after conflict. Causal explanations for rape during war are not borne out by research, and there is substantial variation between and within conflicts in terms of war-time rape Cohen, In the same way that sexual violence can be hypervisible, the violent masculinity of combatants can become the focus of attention at the expense of understanding the more insidious and wider role of masculinity in war and peace.
We need to guard against a focus merely on the expressions of masculinity, however critical these are, which do not address structural factors such as unemployment and living conditions that exacerbate violent masculinities, and are directly linked to a range of other structural violations.
Not to mention that post-conflict violent dispositions are not shared or typical of all ex-combatants, or of all men for that matter. In societies such as South Africa, a focus on the direct violence of former political proponents especially perpetuated by the violation focus of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has often over-shadowed the violence embedded in everyday life: on the sports field, in the classroom, in the home, in public spaces, in language and the media.
Support for the death penalty and a desire for relaxed gun ownership laws are the truly non-racial issues in the new South Africa. Ongoing violence is not simply the result of the moments of exceptionality e. In fact it may well be the very opposite, the moments of exceptionality were made possible by the violence of the everyday.
Accessed 12 February Violence is considerably more endemic in the society than that which is simply linked narrowly to past political incidents, and now extends intergenerationally and across the categories of race and class. Finally, as noted, although a link has and can be drawn between violent militarised masculinities as performed by perpetrators of violence during periods of armed conflict and violence that manifests in the present, there is increasing evidence that shows that how this manifests during periods of peace can vary enormously.
In the DRC it has been shown that when faced with conflict and economic hardships as a result of political conflict, some men responded negatively by being aggressive, using violence in the home or abusing alcohol Hollander, However, other men, far from enacting violent masculinities, accepted the humiliation the economic collapse brought and performed jobs below their self-perceived status Hollander, Many continue as leaders in the home, but this is now conditional on how reasonable they were to the family in terms of income support Hollander, Hollander goes on to add that far from creating a victim mentality, and lashing out, many men when faced with hardship went through a positive process of self-reflection: Informants who had effaced their masculine identities had a strong sense of selfreflection and they accepted the new reality.
In a similar vein, it is now increasingly evident that although violent masculinity is beneficial to men in certain contexts such as war and many aspire to the power that comes with it, peace can bring a different set of expectations and desires that move away from militarised or overtly violent masculinities.
Similar findings are evident in Colombia, where despite histories of violence, most men aspired to a civilian life and positive economic prospects, but unfortunately the militarised nature of the society often forced many of them back into war Theidon, All this of course, does not mean that the technocratic soldier, or the poor man who aspires to economic success before a paramilitary lifestyle, are not performing a range of different new and old and changing masculinities.
However, by pointing out the fissures and alternative masculinities that are on offer during peace time, we can see that focusing on violent masculinities associated with armed conflict, only tells part of the story. Of course, given the pernicious nature of violent masculinities and their ability, especially when coupled with poverty, to manifest in a multitude of destructive ways, we equally cannot ignore them. Tensions between new less violent masculinities and inclusive social change Drawing on the arguments made above, therefore, in societies moving out of political conflict or post-Agreement it is unlikely that discourses challenging violent masculinities will not be present in the society at the same time as violent masculinities persist and mutate into the present.
It is probable, at least at the level of discourse and new policy, that violent masculinities will go unchecked. Given the internationalisation of peacebuilding processes, a gender equality discourse and subsequent reform, whether effective or not, will more than likely be present in the peacebuilding milieu.
On top of this there are a range of global shifts towards legislative equality and arguably a rights revolution Pinker, Certainly in many societies there are now higher levels of gender equality, recognition of the rights of others and tolerance of homosexuality, for example. It is not the purpose of this article to analyse how shifts in the global equality and rights agenda have come about and how real these changes are, or how global peacebuilding concepts have inserted themselves into many domestic agendas and whether this is positive or not, but rather to point out some of the consequences of this.
The first consequence is that in some societies an ostensibly reformed Western notion of manhood has started to emerge.
This is a vision of masculinity that is non-violent, monogamous, modern, responsible, and built on respect for themselves and others Walker, a. Although violent masculinities are enacted in a multitude of places everyday in South Africa as the crime and domestic violence statistics would indicate, new and changing masculinities are also present. He argues that although orthodox masculinities continue to exist e.
He notes: Those who subscribed to inclusive masculinity were shown to behave in effeminate ways without experiencing social stigma. In this respect, they were less or not at all defensive about their heterosexuality, and they regularly stated support for homosexuality. Because these men had a culturally positive association with homosexuality, homophobia ceased to be a tool of masculine marginalization.
Conversely, homophobic expression was stigmatized among men in this group. In fact, the inclusive form of masculinity proposed by this group was the near-antithesis of orthodox masculinity. Anderson ; ; argues that in the so-called Western world homohysteria is on the decline making and his work is optimistic about these changes as they signal new spaces for masculinities.
He notes however this does not mean that Western societies are completely free of oppression and subordination between men and that there is no gender utopia; men still rule and orthodox masculinities still exist Anderson, ; However, crucially, he shows that these can co-exist with inclusive masculinities and this brings into question hegemonic masculinity theory as multiple masculinities can cohabit without a hierarchy, which is at the core of the idea of hegemony in masculinities Anderson, ; By his own admission Anderson notes that he has not analyzed the concept of inclusive masculinity completely within the context of race, religiosity, or other demographic variables with the exception of class Anderson, What we know, for example, is that homohysteria is alive and well in many societies.
From to , household surveys were administered to more than 8, men and 3, women ages in Brazil, Chile, Croatia, India, Mexico and Rwanda. However, he primarily focuses on the relationships between men, rather than teasing out the full implications of changing seemingly more positive masculinities for women.
Although she is not sure of hegemonic masculinity as a preferred concept, she feels at least it engages in the treatment of power. She notes that, despite the seeming positive shift taking place in Western societies with regard to homosexuality in particular, masculinity scholars should ask among other questions : How are men located in post-feminist culture, and how do these locations differ by virtue of race, class, sexuality, and age? How do men respond to and interact with postfeminist representations, discourses, and practices?
If we attempt to answer such questions in the South African context, for example, it is clear that responses to what could be considered postfeminist representations e. Elsewhere I and others have demonstrated through empirical research with men and women that a security-insecurity cycle can be seen in South Africa; that is that some of the advances in security for women, in social, political and egalitarian terms, even if not completely realised, have led to other physical insecurities for them as some men have opposed these changes often with violence in the private sphere Hamber, ; Hamber et al.
To alter these masculinities, radical change and challenge is needed that moves beyond recognising that some men feel their roles are in crisis or threatened, or that certain men practice a form of inclusive masculinity. This is not to say that all men will react in this way, some men will acquiesce reluctantly and still others will embrace it Hamber, Analysing data from a later IMAGES survey which focused on 8 countries8 some positive trends in a range of countries are evident, although they co-exist with the negative: It is clear that some men are practicing and living at least some elements of gender equality.
In other words, there clearly are trends towards a greater recognition of equality, but at the same time the notion of an inclusive masculinity if one thinks of it beyond the notion of inclusivity as being about being comfortable with homosexuality is a long way off in many countries.
When one thinks of such concepts in societies in the extreme grip of conflict, or when war is prevalent and violent masculinities are linked to war crimes such as rape, the positive glow of inclusivity seems even further from the mark. Therefore, concepts such as inclusive masculinity perhaps demonstrate what might be possible in some contexts and it highlights the changes that are and can happen with regard to masculinities—yet it remains questionable if such terms full capture the complexity present in deeply divided societies and those in or emerging from armed military conflict.
Indeed as Anderson observes, inclusive masculinities and how they play themselves out depends on the setting. Given the types of societies where such masculinities have been observed, it is likely that access to resources has a role to play in this. So, are new inclusive masculinities a demonstration of yet another rupture in hegemonic masculinities, a new trajectory when social conditions are more favourable?
Or if we are thinking about times of rapid political change, perhaps a drive to equality could also be about something completely different, that is a reorganising of power away from the violently performative to a more hidden set of masculine power relations or at least a range of tensions between the old and the new as peace unfolds.
However, before discussing this, it is important to return to the observations about why masculinities as a field of study has not grown more rapidly especially in the area of transitional justice. As noted, there may be blind spots within various theoretical frameworks, as well as concerns and challenges that have prevented a more robust engagement with the field.
These need to be engaged with and discussed more openly. Surfacing tensions between theorists coming from different perspectives is an important part of grappling with the difficult problem of masculinity.
To conclude this article I will now add two broad directions of travel for future exploration of the relationship between masculinity, peacebuilding and transitional justice. Highlighting ruptures between hegemonic and new masculinities Violation-centric notions of transitional justice have found a fruitful, albeit limited, confluence with the issue of sexual violence, which has created opportunities and risks.
To this end, much work remains to be done in dealing with hyper-masculinity in times of war and peace, and ongoing attention is required to the continued exploration of the ability for violent masculinities to linger and transform long after the formal political conflict is over. Direct sexual harm, despite being horrific and demanding support for its victims, provides a potential framework for unpacking the relationship between gender, violence, masculinity and sexual politics.
The point I wish to make in this article however is that currently the limited work that is being done in the peacebuilding and transitional justice field on masculinity is leaning too heavily in that direction at the expense of other concerns. Although this is important, it can deflect from some of the wider fissures I presented above. One of the dangers of liberal peacebuilding structures such as truth commissions or inquiries being used as the central reference point, is that invariably the issue of masculinity, if introduced at all, may end up being dealt with in the same way gender has been to date, that is through a violation-centric lens.
When we go down this route we end up discussing how we can reprogramme men mainly combatants to behave less violently. Although this may be useful, it can also lead to a project mentality that focuses primarily on groups of men and transforming their attitudes through interventions, and fails to see the complex set of factors that give rise to violent masculinities that are located well beyond the reaches of individual psyches.
Furthermore, if we continue on the violation-centric route then the first entry into thinking about masculinity more seriously in the transitional justice field will invariably come through an engagement with male victims of sexual violence.
Therefore the first challenge concerns how we locate the notion of masculinity within processes of political transition. The starting point here is not merely to look for the continuities between the violent masculinities of the past and present, but to ensure we pay adequate attention to the discontinuities between past and present too.
Through the brief review provided in this article it is clear masculinities are changing or arguably have always been changing. There are multiple reactions to political violence and brutalisation that move beyond the re-enactment of violent masculinities during times of peace.
Liz Walker says that in South Africa we need to think about masculinities as not essentially gender-equitable, alternative or progressive, but new, ambivalent and embryonic, and vying for space for expression Walker, a, e. The new South Africa, with all its liberalism, has exposed different masculinities, past, present and evolving Hamber, Discussion of masculinity must therefore be infused with an analysis that addresses different racial and class positions, not to mention sexual locations.
Such an analysis must recognise that all masculinities influence one another Morrell, d. Critics raved about the album and noted how dark it was, how steeped in death and endings it was. It doesn't take much imagination to wonder if Leonard saw his own death coming and simply gave us this recording as an epitaph.
He spoke of the saint's theology. He spoke of the saint's political accomplishments in negotiating peace. MacDougal spoke about how peace never comes easy. He spoke of the discipline of living into peace even when all around you do not want it.
Professor MacDougall reminded us that, "it is all too easy to salt the earth than it is to be salt of the earth. There is a crack in everything; that's how the light gets in. Everything has cracks and faults and our best intentions to bring peace and love and justice to the world is cracked. To do the work of peace, MacDougall reminded us, is to do the work of repentance, lament, praise and Everyone talks about Bob Dylan and his incredible discography.
As well they should. And the two musicians were often compared to one another. Incredible talents. But Cohen has always sung better for me. You got me singing Even though the world is gone You got me thinking I'd like to carry on. All the grossness of life laid at our feet by a growling prophet. He doesn't ask us to love it.
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