ABSTRACT
Masculinities studies have begun to consider the conceptual provocations of new materialist scholarship. One of the lessons of existing debates is that the breadth of new materialist work needs to be appreciated. Rather than a narrow focus on the agentic powers of non-humans, I argue that the key aspects of new materialisms are an underlying ontology of complexity and the resultant reworking of ‘nature’. This chapter first draws on the work of Bonnie Mann to develop a conception of sovereign masculinities as premised on the reduction of complexity and the desire to establish control over nature. Second, it engages with Elizabeth Grosz’s concept of incorporeal materialism to consider how we might reposition ‘Man’ in relation to nature in ontological, ethical, and ecological terms. Finally, the chapter explores how complexity theory, in dialogue with indigenous theorising, might point the way towards the emergence of non-sovereign masculinities.
