Re-storying Masculinity

How can we reroute and reroot masculinity into a paradigm of serving and regenerating life? How might we embark on this journey of restorying?#

re-storying masculinity is a multi-teacher, multi-faceted journey peering through sociocultural, political, historical, anthropological, psychological, mythopoetic lenses. Join us and explore the intra- and inter-personal, the individual and collective, the ancestral and future. Let us re-embed masculinity in the fertile, earthly ground, where it rests—and flourishes.

Convened by Ian MacKenzie, the course is taught by a group of diverse teachers. They are a collective of storytellers, culture workers, wisdom carriers, and more. They include: Al Jeffery, Jhaimy Alvarez-Acosta, Ke’oni Hanalei, German Villegas, Zhenevere Sophia Dao, Adam Jackson, Paul Pule, Pat McCabe, and more to be announced.

What is the current state of contemporary masculinity and what sociocultural forces, historical events, psychological patterns, mythic stories, and rigid constructs shape(d) it? How do we look into the heart of patriarchal masculinity and heal the wounds of today? In re-storying the future of masculinities, how do we embrace a diversity of expression and forms, and make space for each one as they come into being?

Course Structure#

re-storying masculinity is a 6-week course with sessions taking place every week from Tuesday 14 March until Tuesday 18 April. Sessions happen on Zoom. Organised by advaya and curated & hosted by Ian MacKenzie.

Weekly 2-hour sessions will consist of host lectures, guest lectures, guests’ dialogue, and Q&A sessions. All sessions are recorded for you to catch up if you miss them live. The course presents a unique, curated lineup of teachers.

Includes a course pack to guide you through the course with weekly readings, resources and activities. Participants are encouraged to share insights with one another via a dedicated Discord forum.

About the Course#

The journey begins with diagnosing and contextualising contemporary masculinities and men’s work. We then dive deeper into the psychological to heal the inner child, and the Mother Wound often seen to be at the heart of patriarchal masculinity. Continuing along the lines of reparenting, we explore rebuilding fathering cultures and the role of community. We look towards possibilities for liberated futures, examining the intersections of masculinity and sexuality, and masculinity and coloniality. The journey concludes with new-old mythological frameworks for restorying masculinity.

Course breakdown:
1. Contemporary Masculinities and the Renaissance of Men’s Work
2. Meeting our Monsters: Patriarchy’s Mother Wound
3. In a Time with No Fathers: Forging Intiatatory Pathways
4. Liberating Gender: Queer and Trans Futurities
5. Decolonising Masculinity through Indigenous Thinking
6. Rewilding Masculinities and Embodying the Future

Inclusive of 2 Collective Enquiry Sessions, where participants will gather to dialogue, envision, collaborate, and create; facilitated by the course host.

Course Objectives#

• Explore a historical and mythic roadmap of some of the forces that have shaped modern masculinity in the past and present;
• Understand the psychosocial and psychological context for the recent upwellings that characterise attempts to shift masculinity, and what stands in the way of these shifts;
• Understand the psychological and cultural dimensions of “patriarchy” and the complex benefits (and limitations) with this lens;
• Navigate and interrogate the various frameworks around understanding gender from a biological, social, and mythic perspective;
• Contrast the Western conceptions of individualism alongside rooted frameworks—and why this is key to avoiding universalist agendas;
• Explore possibilities to reconstruct rites of passage and rebuild holding spaces to liberate generational and communal men’s work;
• Explore emerging narrative ideals and pathways toward rerouting masculinity in reconnection and stewardship of social and ecosystem healing.

About Ian MacKenzie#

Ian MacKenzie is a filmmaker and writer who lives on the Salish Sea with his partner and young son. For over 10 years, he’s been tracking the global emergence of new culture. From the desert of Burning Man to the heart of Occupy Wall St, he has sought and amplified the voices of visionaries, artists and activists who have been working toward planetary system change. Find out more about Ian here.