Masculinity Construction Across Borders: Literature Review

This scoping literature review provides an analytical overview of existing research on diverse practices and patterns of masculine performances of labour migrants that are sustained, challenged and shifted in transnational contexts. These practices are often constructed in a way that allows migrant men to simultaneously maintain their masculine image in countries of origin and destination. Outlining the main academic arguments concerning the nexus between migration and masculinity demonstrates the diversity of masculine practices of migrant men performed in different contexts. Migrant men constantly navigate and negotiate their masculinity in relation to gender norms of sending and host societies, as well existing political and migration regimes that often structure employment opportunities, as well as racial and class differentiations between local and migrant communities. The multiplicity of masculine practices brought from home or appropriated in a host society, both in the personal and professional milieus, reveal the complexity of migrant men’s masculine identity.