Kopano Ratele

Bio: Kopano Ratele is an academic researcher from South African Medical Research Council. The author has contributed to research in topics: Masculinity & Poison control. The author has an hindex of 23, co-authored 110 publications receiving 2627 citations. Previous affiliations of Kopano Ratele include Hanken School of Economics & Medical Research Council.

From boys to men : social constructions of masculinity in contemporary society

Abstract: The problems boys and men create, the problems boys and men experience researching and working with boys in Southern Africa in the context of HIV/Aids - a radical approach multiple meanings of manhood among boys in Ghana do you want to be a father? School-going youth in Durban schools at the turn of the 21st century teenage masculinity: the double find of conformity to hegemonic standards 'Moffies, jock and cool guys' - boys' accounts of masculinity and their resistance in context South African boys with plans for the future - why a focus on dominant discourses tells us only a part of the story 'A woman cannot marry a boy' - rescue, spectacle and transitional Xhosa masculinities social construction of masculinity on the racial and gendered margins of Cape Town masculinities in the era of HIV/Aids - the perspectives of rural male Zulu youth masculinities in the ANC-led liberation movement culture change, Zulu masculinity and intergenerational conflict in the context of civil war in Pietermaritzburg (1987-1991).

From Boys to Men: Social constructions of masculinity in contemporary society

Abstract: The current emphasis in research and education on women and girls is fraught with problems. It has raised a concern that boys and men should be included in research and intervention work on gender equality and transformation. As a result, academics with a background of many years of work in women’s and gender studies undertook a research project focusing on the construction of masculinities among young men. From Boys to Men was born out of this project. This highly original work arises from the conference ‘From Boys to Men’, held in January 2005. It represents the work of some of the best-known theorists and researchers in masculinities and feminism in South Africa, on the continent and internationally. The subjects covered are based on rich ethnographic studies, mostly in South Africa, but also elsewhere in Africa. Acknowledging that there are multiple versions of masculinity and that some are more valued than others, this book is concerned with documenting both hegemonic discourses on masculinity, as well as resistances and challenges to dominant forms of being a boy or man in different contexts of space and time. From Boys to Men provides valuable material for those working with issues of gender, identity and power, and will sharpen understanding of males, inform community-based interventions and facilitate theory-building. ‘This impressive collection of research on men, boys and masculinities would have been impossible just a generation ago. It took the worldwide impact of the women’s liberation movement, and the many feminisms that have since developed, to bring gender into focus … and to bring men into focus as participants in a gender system.’ Raewyn Connell, Professor at the University of Sydney & author of Masculinities, 1995 ‘Given the extant paucity of research and literature on masculinities, this book will undoubtedly prove to be an invaluable resource for scholars in the field of gender studies. The editors of the volume should be commended for this timely, well-constructed and significant contribution to the literature on masculinities studies, both in South Africa and internationally.’ Norman Duncan, Chair of Psychology, University of the Witwatersrand ‘Setting this collection apart from existing scholarship on masculinities in South Africa is its interrogation of the gendered rhetoric of boyhood and manhood in the context of HIV/Aids. This is a multilayered and rich collection that suggests masculinities have the potential to be unmade and remade. The volume usefully opens up new avenues of analysis, telling us that masculinities are always in process, under negotiation, contradictory, for ever in crisis.’

Analysing Males in Africa: Certain Useful Elements in Considering Ruling Masculinities

Abstract: This article examines the questions why and how African males have been analysed, informed by the view that across several societies in Africa undeclared yet public gender wars of words and deeds go on daily, and may even be intensifying. It argues that though interventions with males from feminist perspectives have gained ground over the last few decades, more radical, to the gendered African worlds and masculinities have failed to materialise because analyses of boys and men's lives have tended to be blind to the imbrications of the experience of maleness with the experience of other significant social categorisations, such as being without gainful employment. Consequently, many interventions, such as those around violence against women and girls, have failed to grasp some of the critical factors underlying males' reluctance to support feminist action. The article therefore routes its examination of males through a number of categories of social-psychological experience and practice, namely (a) occupational and income attainment and, (b) age, categories theoretically tied to maleness and to practices geared towards the attainment of ruling masculinity. The article reveals the manner in which the psychosocial and the political inter-penetrate each other in the lives of African males. In conclusion, the recognition of the heterogeneous nature of masculinities also, ironically, affords mounting new feminist interventions into changing traditional ruling ideas of being a man or boy.

The Production of Space

Abstract: ‘The Production of Space’, in: Frans Jacobi, Imagine, Space Poetry, Copenhagen, 1996, unpaginated.

تقويم البرنامج : طرق بديلة و إرشادات عملية = Program evaluation Alternative Approaches and Practical Guidelines

Abstract: I. INTRODUCTION TO EVALUATION. 1. Evaluation's Basic Purpose, Uses, and Conceptual Distinctions. 2. Origins of Modern Program Evaluation. 3. Recent Developments and Trends in Evaluation. II. ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO PROGRAM EVALUATION. 4. Alternative Views of Evaluation. 5. Objectives-Oriented Evaluation Approaches. 6. Management-Oriented Evaluation Approaches. 7. Consumer-Oriented Evaluation Approaches. 8. Expertise-Oriented Evaluation Approaches. 9. Adversary-Oriented Evaluation Approaches. 10. Participant-Oriented Evaluation Approaches. 11. Alternative Evaluation Approaches: A Summary and Comparative Analysis. III. PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR PLANNING EVALUATION. 12. Clarifying the Evaluation Request and Responsibilities. 13. Setting Boundaries and Analyzing the Evaluation Context. 14. Identifying and Selecting the Evaluative Questions and Criteria. 15. Planning How to Conduct the Evaluation. IV. PRACTICAL GUIDELINES FOR CONDUCTING AND USING EVALUATIONS. 16. Dealing with Political, Ethical, and Interpersonal Aspects of Evaluation. 17. Collecting, Analyzing, and Interpreting Quantitative Information. 18. Collecting, Analyzing, and Interpreting Qualitative Information. 19. Reporting and Using Evaluation Information. 20. Evaluating Evaluations. V. EMERGING AND FUTURE SETTINGS FOR PROGRAM EVALUATION. 21. Conducting Multiple-Site Evaluation Studies. 22. Conducting Evaluations of Organizations Renewal and Training in Corporate and Nonprofit Settings. 23. The Future of Evaluation. Appendix: Some General Areas of Competence Important in Education Evaluation.

An Analysis of Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks

Abstract: Frantz Fanon’s explosive Black Skin, White Masks is a merciless expose of the psychological damage done by colonial rule across the world. Using Fanon’s incisive analytical abilities to expose the consequences of colonialism on the psyches of colonized peoples, it is both a crucial text in post-colonial theory, and a lesson in the power of analytical skills to reveal the realities that hide beneath the surface of things. Fanon was himself part of a colonized nation – Martinique – and grew up with the values and beliefs of French culture imposed upon him, while remaining relegated to an inferior status in society. Qualifying as a psychiatrist in France before working in Algeria (a French colony subject to brutal repression), his own experiences granted him a sharp insight into the psychological problems associated with colonial rule. Like any good analytical thinker, Fanon’s particular skill was in breaking things down and joining dots. His analysis of colonial rule exposed its implicit assumptions – and how they were replicated in colonised populations – allowing Fanon to unpick the hidden reasons behind his own conflicted psychological make up, and those of his patients. Unflinchingly clear-sighted in doing so, Black Skin White Masks remains a shocking read today.