Drawing on her experience of moving from the Vaal region to Johannesburg, she highlights the contrast between community-based traditions and the demands of urban life, in which both men and women navigate shifting expectations. She also explores how inherited beliefs, shaped by history and survival, continue to influence how masculinity and femininity are expressed today.

Her reflections raise direct questions about responsibility, balance, and the need for self-awareness, while closing with a clear message: strength without control and care is not masculinity, but harm.

The conversation explores how masculinity is evolving, with particular attention to the perceived tension between traditional expectations and contemporary societal shifts. He reflects on how changing narratives—especially in relation to gender discourse—have influenced men's understanding of their place within families and communities, sometimes creating uncertainty about responsibility and leadership.

Family remains central throughout the discussion. The Kenyan man highlights the role of fathers in shaping male identity, emphasising the importance of presence, shared activities, and consistent guidance. He contrasts this with modern parenting dynamics, where shifting roles can reduce direct male influence in a boy’s development. Across cultural contexts, he also notes patterns of male-led decision-making within families, while acknowledging the role of consultation and collective input.

Grounded in lived experience, this episode frames masculinity not as performative or loud, but as something expressed through small, consistent actions—particularly in leadership, responsibility, and everyday conduct.

Drawing on research into gender-based violence and queer femininity, this conversation examines how pre-colonial societies organised gender roles in ways that were often fluid, functional, and context-driven — rather than rigid or binary. We then trace how colonial rule, particularly under German and South African administrations, reshaped these systems. Victorian gender norms, Christianity, and colonial law introduced more fixed ideas of masculinity and femininity, criminalised same-sex relationships, and reinforced hetero-patriarchal structures that continue to influence society today. 

The discussion also looks at:

• The role of religion and education in shaping gender norms
• Differences between urban and rural experiences of masculinity
• Regional contrasts across Africa — including legal progress and regression
• Cultural reflections through literature, including Things Fall Apart 

This episode situates masculinity within history, language, and power — not as a fixed identity, but as something shaped and reshaped over time.

Guest: Jermine April is a Namibian researcher, research consultant, and entrepreneur whose work focuses on African masculinities, gender-based violence, and the historical legacies of colonialism. Her research explores how power, gender, and violence are shaped by history and social structures.

This episode introduces key ideas and frameworks that shape how masculinity is understood — from hegemonic masculinity to plural masculinities — and why these tools matter when navigating conversations about identity, culture, and change. 

Rather than offering answers, this episode focuses on building a way of thinking — one that helps us question assumptions, recognise patterns, and better understand the forces shaping masculinity across African contexts. 

Key themes: 

• What masculinity is (and isn’t)
• Why theory matters
• The influence of culture, history, and power
• How ideas about masculinity are shaped and circulated 

As we move through the season, two questions will guide the conversation: 

1. What do we lose when we forget our own histories of masculinity?
2. What would change look like if it was built from African ways of being men? 

📚 References & Further Reading:

• Connell, R.W. & Messerschmidt, J.W. (2005) – Hegemonic Masculinity (Gender & Society)
• Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí – The Invention of Women
• Ifi Amadiume – Male Daughters, Female Husbands

African Men Speak is a long-form podcast exploring African masculinities through lived experience, history, and critical reflection. 

Subscribe for more conversations. #AfricanMasculinity #Masculinity #AfricanPodcast #GenderStudies

We discuss Onyango’s personal journey through childhood violence, depression, and sexual abuse, and how those experiences shaped his work with men and his thinking on masculinity. The conversation explores silence, intergenerational trauma, patriarchy, feminism, and the difficulty many African men face in finding spaces where vulnerability is possible.

This is an open, reflective conversation that moves between personal experience and wider social questions, without rushing toward conclusions.

⚠️ Explicit content:

This episode includes discussion of sexual abuse, violence, mental health, and suicide.

Book recommendation:

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love — bell hooks

In this monologue: 

• Why I resisted a single authoritative voice
• What slowed the project down (and why that matters)
• What I underestimated about African masculinities, research access, and scale
• Why restraint matters more than output at this stage 

African Men Speak is a long-form project exploring African masculinities through conversations, short street interviews, reading, and reflection — centred on plurality, accountability, and lived experience. 

This work needs time — and I’m finally okay with that.