Cultural Pathways to a Respectable Manhood Masculinity for Visibly Physically Disabled Xhosa Men

Abstract

This article explores how upon self-defining their manhood identities as unimpacted by their impairments, the participants, traditionally initiated Xhosa men with visible physical impairments, instead identified their social status as impacted. The study reports data from in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 Xhosa men, onegroup interview, and one cultural expert interview. The data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). This article identifies Xhosa traditional initiation as a grantor of equality; thus, the participant’s identities remained unimpacted, contrary to existing research about the co-existence of disability and masculinity. However, the lack of the impairment’s diminishing impact on their manhood identities notwithstanding, the participants identified both the impact of impairments on their status, and cultural pathways through which they seek to maintain a respectable social status as men in the communities. This article, therefore, explores these cultural pathways and how the participants negotiate the demands of able-bodied masculinity that often accompany their performance.