1. Report on South Asian Network to addressing Masculinities (SANAM)
South Asian Network to Addressing Masculinities (SANAM) has arranged a capacity
building initiative programme in South Asia titling as “Understanding Masculinities:
Culture, Politics and Social Change”. This fellowship programme – phase 1 was held at
Godavori Village Resort in Nepal on 1 February 2011 to 18 February 2011. There were
33 fellows of seven countries (Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Srilanka, Philippine,
Indonesia) in Asia had been participated this fellowship. Topic of this study programme
designed as:
• introductory session,
• conflict, violence and masculinities,
• self and gender,
• patriarchy, sexuality and masculinities,
• globalization, development and masculinities,
• media and masculinity,
• institutions and masculinities
• sharing of framework for 1st assignment and
• overview on review of current gender modules/ training curricula.
The above topics were facilitated by Mr. Rahul Roy (India), Dr. Delip Semion (Delhi
University, India), Ms. Maria (ED, ROZAN, Pakistan), Dr. Ambreen Ahamed
(Psychiatrist, Pakistan), Dr. Avijeet Das (Clinical Associate Professior at Development of
Global Health, University of Washington in Seattle, USA), Dr. Nigat Said Khan (The
Dean of Studies, Institute of Women Studies, Lahore, Pakistan), Dr. Charu Gupta
(Associate Professor of History, Delhi University, India), Dr. Imtiaz (Woman and Gender
Studies Dept., Dhaka University, Bangladesh), Mr. Nazrul (Bangladesh), Mr. Razeq
(Pakistan), Dr. Rubina Saigol (Islamabad University, Pakistan), Dr. Dipak Meheta (Delhi
University, India), Dr. Sanjay Srevastava (Delhi University, India), Dr. Chandra Vadra
(Tribhuban University, Nepal), Dr. Dhan Prasad Pandit (Tribhuban University, Nepal).
The first day of ‘Phase I’ of SANAM Fellowship has been designed to provide the
participants an orientation to the course content and design; an understanding of the
Women’s movement and the need to broaden the traditional look on gender issues and
women’s marginalization to include an understanding of masculinities. Together these
form the foundation of this course.
Notwithstanding the fact that the women’s movement is one of the most successful
movements in the world, new research and activism on masculinities are opening up
avenues for a greater participation of boys and men in thinking and acting on issues of
gender equality. The historical role that the women’s movements and feminist research
have played in making masculinities visible is the bedrock that needs to be continually
revisited for both learning and forging links. Patriarchy in its various forms and practice
continues to critically influence the relationship between men and women in the South
Asian region and remains central to thinking and acting upon masculinities.
While we do talk in terms of a South Asian Women’s Movement, there really is no such
homogeneous process. In reality there are several movements with a diverse set of issues
and strategies, though certain common concerns do run across all these expressions of

2. solidarity. It is also important to note that three of the four countries participating in the
course have a common history till 1947. Two countries have a common history till 1971.
And “nationalism” remains an unfinished project in this region.
Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan have witnessed important struggles of women’s
movement under extremely challenging situations. In the most trying of circumstances be
it emergency in 1971 or the rise of right wing politics in India in the 90s; political
upheavals in Bangladesh and Pakistan and insurgency in Nepal in the 90s; the women’s
movement has fought for justice and proven its strength and existence.
Debates on gender and nation offer ways in which race and gender become entwined in
social hierarchies and work to produce and reinforce each other. Studies of SANAM
Fellowship split in to two major subthemes: colonial masculinity – where historical and
post colonial studies of the effect of British dominance lead the way; and ethnicity and
minorities, focused on relationships between the dominant Hindu community and the
Muslim Community. SANAM highlights the historical contingency and regional
variability of styles of masculinity across South Asia. South Asian sexuality fail to
capture the compels ways in which a variety of muted discourses shapes and produce a
range of gendered subjectivities and a highly uneven array of knowledge and techniques
of sex. At the same time they also argue for the local recognition concept of “Gay”. Such
claims are generally linked in to activism and to progeammes which promote coming out
and urge self identification of men as gay within a broad homosexual-heterosexual
framework.
Men enjoy films breaking conventional social boundaries as in celebrations of
individualism and romance. Movies embracing the emergence of ideas about “LOVE”
between men and women may even reshape certain social structures. But film also works
to bolster existing structures of male dominance and even of magnifying male sexualized
aggression towards women. Ultimately, male power and even violence form the bedrock
of men’s expectations of their relationships to women. While men enjoy watching
rebellion and signs of the modern on screen, they are also antagonistic to what is
perceived as negative and decadent western modernity.
The SANAM studies explore ways in which a multifaceted understanding of Islam can
contribute to productive dialogue about the future of Muslim women in both Islamic and
secular states. Towards that end the numerous interpretations of Islamic, secular,
collaborative, and hybrid feminisms that have surfaced in Islamic and non-Islamic
nations. Muslim women’s heterogeneous realities challenge mainstream feminisms, since
women’s lives as products of local cultures and politics, do not fit in to typical feminist
ideological compartments. Muslim women’s lives also do not conform to the rigid
parameters of a secular or Islamic Nations but are impacted by women’s class, region,
ethnicity and local politics. These variables could potentially give women the option to
negotiate their status and rights contrary to the dominant ideology, since 9/11, the current
trend toward Islamization of nation states tends toward a shrinking of this space.
The field of masculinity studies within the South Asia region is only now beginning to
develop and is significantly skewed towards the foci mentioned by SANAM. It seems
likely that significance insights will continue to grow out the already rich and complex

3. literatures relating to sexuality and ethnicity. Men’s economic behavior and the relations
of globalizations to masculinity are also emerging as future arena of study.
Picture - 1
Group of SANAM Participants
Picture - 2
Bangladesh Team (Left: Parboti, Faruk, Miraj, Jhuma, Lopa, Siraj)
Picture - 3

4. Class Room: Dr. Rubina Saigol (Islamabad University, Pakistan)
Picture - 4
Working session -1 (General)
Picture - 5

5. Working session – 2 (Team Work)
Picture - 6
Study Tour: Historical Place – Bhaktapur, Nepal
Picture - 7

6. Leisure Period
Picture - 8
Entertainment - 1
Picture - 9

7. Entertainment - 2