Abstract:
This article takes cue from Sarojini Nadar’s article analysing the Mighty Men Conference
(MMC) in South Africa as a case study of masculinism, where the author makes some passing
comparison between Promise Keepers in America (PKA) and the MMC in South Africa. This
article investigates the specific ways in which PKA and MMC are ideologically similar, while
also evaluating how their differences accrue dissimilar results with respect to their missions on
race reconciliation. The article argues that despite their shared religious similarities as
evangelical Christian men’s organisations and perceptions regarding the ‘crisis in/of
masculinity’, race discourse plays different roles in the ministries of PKA and MMC. The key
observation arising from addressing this discourse is that in the context of PKA, the
organisation’s institutional focus on race translates itself into discussions and debates about
race reconciliation amongst the various racialised men of the movement as part of the
organisation’s work of self-transformation. However, such talk, although present at the
individual level to some extent in the MMC, is absent at the institutional level. The absence of
such discourse is especially problematic given the visibility of race in public discourse in
South Africa, in general, and also points to a masked refusal to give up white male privilege in
the post-apartheid public sphere.
