Introduction: Men and Masculinities at the Margins: Decolonial and Intersectional Approaches

This introduction advances the central premise of the volume: that men and masculinities are most productively understood from the margins rather than from the centre. It argues that marginality should not be treated as a fixed condition of exclusion, but as a relational and processual formation through which power is unevenly produced, negotiated, and contested. From this perspective, the margins are
approached as theory-generating sites that reveal the limits of dominant frameworks in Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities. Bringing intersectional and decolonial perspectives into sustained dialogue, the chapter develops an analytical approach to masculinities as configurations shaped across intersecting axes of inequality, including coloniality, racialisation, class, migration, sexuality, violence, and digital
transformations. In doing so, it places hegemonic masculinity under analytical scrutiny, showing both its continued relevance and its limitations when applied across historically uneven and postcolonial contexts. The introduction situates the contributions of the volume within this framework and outlines the organisation of the book across five thematic sections, each examining distinct yet interconnected configurations of marginalisation across diverse empirical and geopolitical contexts.