Master’s Thesis Colloquium 

“Be a Man: The Exploration of Expressions and Practices of British Masculinity; a Comparison 

of Transjordan and Mesopotamia” (2013)

Abstract: Tracing the history of masculinity is a crucial exercise in understanding complex 

structures of postcolonial relations. This thesis attempts to examine the informal influence 

of masculinity (defined as possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or 

appropriate to a man) as it was expressed by the British colonizers toward the Arab colonized, 

comparing the masculine practices employed in Transjordan and Mesopotamia from the time 

period of World War I until World War II, or in other words, from roughly 1914 until 1939. 

Using R.W. Connell's theoretical basis of hegemonic masculinity, I describe how British 

masculinity was expressed in the Arab colonies. As British masculinity was disseminated 

throughout the colonies, it became a key feature of the colonial gender order. To achieve this 

goal, I analyze the colonial memoirs of four British colonial administrators: Sir Alec Seath 

Kirkbride, John Bagot Glubb, Arnold Talbot Wilson, and Gertrude Bell. Kirkbride and Glubb are 

on the Transjordan side of the discussion, while Wilson and Bell are on the side of Mesopotamia. 

In all of their writings, these individuals discuss (consciously and unconsciously) a particular 

kind of masculinity that is specific to their Western point of reference, and apply it to their 

expectations of the local Arab populations.

Published at Georgetown University Institutional Repository