Book Review: Sovereign Attachments: Masculinity, Muslimness, and Affective Politics in Pakistan

Abstract

them. At the same time, given the social and economic inequalities of the township, the “sex jaros” lament the fact that older wealthier men with cars and material possessions from outside come into the township to woo women and some women choose to engage in relationships with such older men. This heightens the economic, social, and cultural anxieties experienced by poor and working-class black men in Alexandra who struggle to find jobs, often lack qualifications, and have various stigmas attached around living in townships. Further in a chapter on fatherhood, Langa demonstrates how over the course of his long fieldwork several young men became young fathers and had a great desire to support their children and partners even when economic contexts remained challenging. Langa provides us a case study of one young man called Oupa who was a “sex jaro” and never met his own father but was nonetheless determined to be a good father to his own child providing both materially and emotionally. In this way, through a rich longitudinal study, Langa presents a complex picture of young boys becoming young men in a South African township in this book which makes for a powerful and important read. 2 Men and Masculinit es XX(X