ABSTRACT
This essay tracks the trajectory of critical masculinity studies (CMS) in India from a first-person perspective. The opening section adumbrates my early encounter with issues of masculinity in intersecting contexts – personal, academic, and activist – during the 1990s. The second section provides glimpses of my subsequent engagement with CMS through scholarly pursuits and participation in collective endeavours. The next section offers a concise account of key contributions to and methodological concerns regarding CMS in India even as it maps the landscape of mobilized masculinities in the country. The essay concludes with a call for an emancipatory transformation of men and masculinities.
