In Indian Punjab, a culture dominated almost entirely by men, learning to become a man is a process fraught with violence. Disillusioned by lofty promises for power and control, Gill’s research shows how Punjabi men contend with patriarchy: by submitting to it, by attempting to transgress it, by migrating away from it, or by coming undone by it. Based on long-term ethnographic research in and around Punjab, and its capital city Chandigarh, Gill offers a deeper insight into the worlds of middle-class Punjabi men and how they come of age. On one hand, masculinity is produced through pervasive patriarchal violence, on the other, it’s underlined with intimacy and tenderness men express freely towards each other without the fear of homophobic ridicule. Gill’s research posits an indictment of patriarchy as a system that not only oppresses women but also constricts men’s choices regarding their intimate and sexual lives. Whereas outward transnational migration from Punjab is historically understood through frameworks of political persecution and economic desperation, Gill’s considers male migration as gendered phenomenon by exploring how migration offers a strategy for evading patriarchal responsibilities as well as examining how male migration reconfigures the lives of those who are left behind. Gill concludes by making a convincing argument for why men everywhere (including in hyper-patriarchal Punjab) must divest from patriarchy if they don’t wish for their lives to be defined by relentless conflict and violence.

Harjant Gill is professor of anthropology at Towson University. His research examines the intersections of masculinity, modernity, transnational migration, and popular culture in India. Gill is also an award-winning filmmaker and has made several ethnographic films that have screened at international film festivals and on television channels worldwide including BBC World News, Doordarshan (Indian National TV) and PBS. Gill is also the recipient of the Point Foundation Scholarship, Fulbright-Nehru Research Fellowship, American Institute of Indian Studies Performing Arts Fellowship, the Institute for Citizens & Scholars' Career Enhancement Fellowship, and the Whiting Foundation Public Engagement Fellowship. He is also the current president of Society for Visual Anthropology.

Made possible with the generous support of the Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

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