TransforMen Working Group (Transformation of Masculinities)
The TransforMen Working Group (Transformation of Masculinities) is an interdisciplinary and cross-institutional group that is independent of any particular location. It was founded in September 2015 in Lausanne, at the research workshop of the Gender Studies Switzerland network and the SGGF. Since its establishment, the group has met approximately four times a year to discuss current research projects and academic literature. It also undertakes its own research projects.
Présentation
Bringing together researchers from different institutional backgrounds, the group promotes academic exchange and supports the development of critical research on men and masculinities in Switzerland. Since the 1980s, this field has developed internationally as an established research perspective within Gender Studies. It focuses on analysing relations of power and domination between men and women, between men themselves, as well as the diversity of gendered experiences and identities.
The working group aims to connect different strands of research on masculinities in Switzerland and to establish and further develop this field of research nationally. It works across different types of higher education institutions (universities, universities of applied sciences and universities of teacher education), as well as with practitioners and professionals outside academia.
Research topics include, among others, the historical development of masculinities in Switzerland and their relationship to understandings of democracy, family, the state, the economy and the military. Further areas of focus include family, employment and leisure, work–family reconciliation, ageing, social work and social pedagogy, romantic and friendship relationships, as well as men in the financial sector.
Publication
In March 2018, AG TransforMen organised and held a conference entitled Zeitdiagnose Männlichkeiten Schweiz in collaboration with FHS St. Gallen. Continuing its substantive work, the working group published an edited volume under the same title in 2021. The volume is available as an open-access publication from Seismo.
Contact
Diana Baumgarten (diana.baumgarten(at)unibe.ch) and Matthias Luterbach (m.luterbach(at)unibas.ch).