Howson, Richard, Dr.

By Malena Gustavson on 22 Aug | 0 comments

Richard Howson is Deputy Head of School, School of Social Science, Media and Communications at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He is an Open Position Fellow at GEXcel.

Current projects
My main research interests are in the areas of gender, in particular masculinities theory and practice; and hegemony, in particular the development of its ethico-political aspects and its extension into postmarxist political theory. Following my very enjoyable visit to GEXcel in May 2008 where I presented the paper ‘Deconstructing Hegemonic Masculinity: Contradiction, Hegemony and Dislocation’, which has now been submitted to the Nordic Journal of Masculinity Studies, I hope to keep developing this work within GEXcel’s Theme Two.

In addition to this I am also currently involved in a number of relevant concurrent projects that develop the theorisation of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ and explore the theory and practice of the ‘hegemony of men’. These include, researching and writing a monograph entitled Sociology of Postmarxism (2009 forthcoming Routledge) that will explore the ‘social’ aspects of postmarxism by focusing on the key concepts antagonism, dislocation, hegemony and equivalence and there operation in areas such as, gender, ethnicity and ecology. Also, I am editing two volumes: one entitled Migrant Men: Critical studies of Masculinities and the Migration Experience (2009 forthcoming Routledge) with Bob Pease, Ray Hibbins and Mike Donaldson; and the second is entitled Indonesian Masculinities (2009 forthcoming Monash Uni Press) with Pam Nilan and Mike Donaldson. Both volumes also inform a bigger research project (with Nilan and Donaldson) on ‘Indonesian Muslim Men in Australia’, that will explore the construction of masculine identities and practice focusing on the tensions, ambivalences and/or antagonism with the Australian ‘hegemonic’ conception of masculinity.

Biographical Notes
I am currently Deputy Head of School, School of Social Science, Media and Communications in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Wollongong Australia. I teach courses on gender and the body, classical and contemporary social and political theory, social policy and neoliberalism and the third sector and social capital. My main publications include the monograph Challenging Hegemonic Masculinity (2006 Routledge) and the co-edited volume Hegemony: Studies in Consensus and Coercion (2008 Routledge). I am a member of the International Gramsci Society, a founding member of the Gramsci Society (Asia-Pacific) as well as, convenor of the research sub-theme Citizenship, Social Groupings and Civil Society in the research group Citizen, States and Power, Faculty of Arts and on the editorial board for the journal Culture, Society and Masculinities.