Crip Theory and Country Boys: Masculinity, Dis/Ability, and Place in Rural Southeast Kansas

This article examines the discursive and material practices of rural masculinity in Southeast Kansas by foregrounding ability and place as essential in understanding gender. It draws on empirical data gathered from autoethnographic participant-observer research conducted in the region. I begin with a synopsis of critical studies on masculinity in the field of human geography and proceed by offering a summary of research specifically addressing rural masculinities. I then illustrate contrasting perspectives surrounding dis/ability as a concept and also provide an in-depth overview of crip theory. I next describe the research context and methods utilized during the project, as well as how men use their bodies as conduits through which cultural norms pertaining to “manhood” are expressed, affirmed, and reproduced. My results demonstrate how situated assertions of masculinity are inextricably linked to ability, (hetero)sexuality, and sociospatial context, as well as how the pervasive yet veiled pressures of heteronormativity and compulsory able-bodiedness and able-mindedness impose banal and strictly policed social boundaries in regard to belonging and inclusion. The piece is thus a “cripping” of hegemonic notions of manhood in rural Southeast Kansas suggesting that both ability and place are necessary constituent elements for any critical analysis of masculinity.