Punjabi masculinities and transnational spaces: Performance, choice and othering

Abstract

This article seeks to comprehensively understand student-migrant men's identities and masculinities in transnational spaces in Canada. Building on existing literature on transnational masculinities, and partly on identity process theory, I focus on upper-caste Punjabi men who came to Canada as international students. Through in-depth interviews with 22 men, I explore the significance of landownership back home, caste identity and transnational communication in constituting the hegemonic masculinities in transnational spaces and the ‘othering’ within the Punjabi community faced by young men in Canada. By examining how young men respond to the complexities of source and host situation as well as their hegemonic content, I demonstrate the relational and fluid nature of hegemonic Punjabi masculinities. I conclude that even though the hegemonic ideal for men in transnational spaces remains to be the local rural masculinities based on landownership in Punjab, alternative strategies are put in place when that hegemonic ideal becomes difficult to achieve in transnational spaces or when there is a willing disinclination to achieve it such as in case of men who do not express a desire to return.