This book contributes to a broadening of gender studies into the international forest conservation and development sector. Moving on from studies with a primary focus on women's worlds, the author seeks to also incorporate men's worlds, to foster more holistic views of forest management and collaborations with those who live in or near them. With analysis and reflections on a series of field sites, the book follows the course of the author's career from the USA to Indonesia and within a transnational organization. This allows the exploration of the role of different forms of masculinity in people–forest relationships. Premised on the stereotype of forests as spaces dominated by men, the book demonstrates the variability of masculine identities and behaviours and how these relate to and influence management, research and lived experiences of forests.
The foreword by Susan Paulson puts the book into context within the broader literature and is especially valuable for readers unfamiliar with gender or masculine studies. The first chapter gives the motivation of the author for writing the book and develops the conceptual framework used for the subsequent case studies. To conceptualize masculinities, the author uses the construct of a harp, with its frame being analogous with the stability and constraints that cultures provide, the strings representing elements of choice (qualities, interests, norms), which form chords (linked qualities and preoccupations) and eventually a song representing a man's version of masculinity within his own life.
Following an explanation of positionality and the author's formative experience of masculinity during her childhood (Chapter 2), the main case studies are presented in Chapters 3–6, with an example of the harp analogy on each heading page. Chapter 3 covers the time the author spent in Bushler Bay (USA) in the 1970s, which then comprised two logging-dependent communities. Here the example of the harp is framed by competition vs cooperation, time vs productivity, and independence vs hierarchy. The differences between masculinities of loggers and U.S. Forestry Service staff are explored, with a thought-provoking inclusion of the norms and expectations derived from the structure of the local high school basketball team.
The subsequent two chapters focus on masculinities in a range of Indonesian forest contexts, firstly in Bali and Kalimantan (Chapter 4) and then West Sumatra (Chapter 5). For Chapter 4 an example of a Kenyah harp is framed by competition vs cooperation, generosity vs greed and aristocrat vs commoner. This is countered by the Minang harp example of state, custom and religion in Chapter 5. There is richness to the sections focused on Indonesia, particularly regarding the time that the author has spent with the Kenyah and the counter-narrative that can be created through the norms and practices of men and women at the time of the main field studies. Rather than being based on a geographical location, Chapter 6 delves into the intersection of masculinities and institutional (mis)practices of an anonymized forest research organization that the author worked for in the 1990s and 2000s. Here the description of internal politics, the mismatch between organizational policy and internal practice will strike a chord with many in the sector. Charting the author's return to field sites in Bushler Bay and Indonesia, Chapter 7 offers reflection on the dynamic nature of people–forest relationships and the impact that masculinities have on how people live in, use or seek to exert control over these places.
The depth of the book comes from the longitudinal nature of the author's career and the considered retrospective this offers. As a mid-career, northern, feminist, male conservation and development professional, I would encourage others to take advantage of this freely available book. Read it, if even just the succinct chapter summaries (3–6) and the return to field sites detailed in Chapter 7, reflect, and work to challenge our everyday practices to better take diversity, gender and masculinities into account.
Open access
