To Be a Man Is Not a One-Day Job: Masculinity, Money, and Intimacy in Nigeria

November 30, 2017

To Be a Man Is Not a One-Day Job: Masculinity, Money, and Intimacy in Nigeria by Daniel Jordan Smith was published by The University of Chicago Press in November 2017.

Refrains about financial hardship are ubiquitous in contemporary Nigeria, frequently expressed through the idiom “to be a man is not a one-day job.” But while men talk constantly about money, underlying their economic worries are broader concerns about the shifting meanings of masculinity, amid changing expectations and practices of intimacy.

Drawing on twenty-five years of experience and research in southeastern Nigeria, Faculty Fellow Daniel Jordan Smith takes readers through the principal phases and arenas of men’s lives, while also considering men who behave badly, mistreat their wives and children, or resort to crime and violence. All men face similar challenges as they navigate the complex geometry of money and intimacy. Smith offers a deeper understand of both masculinity and society in Nigeria.

To learn more about the book, click here.