Wilson, Catharine Anne (Author)
Canadian Historical Review
Volume: 95, no. 1
Issue: 1
Pages: 157-186
This article draws on recent studies of masculinity, labour and recreation to consider rural men. More Canadian men worked in farming than any other single occupation and yet we know little about their sense of masculine identity. This article examines the processes of fashioning, practising and performing masculinity associated with the archetypal farming skill passed down from father to son - plowing. In the early 1800s improving farmers created the plowing match, an educational and sporting event. The author analyzes media representations of the match, reporters' rhetoric, visual images and interviews with plowmen and spectators. She argues that their depictions and discussions of plowing at home and at the match shed light on their masculine ideals, ideals that were challenged with the introduction of the tractor. Rural men continued to value a rugged individualism and mastery over nature, but the value of being a skilled horseman, stoic toiler, and muscled man gave way to new masculine ideals based on speed, comfort, and expertise with machines. In the process farmers helped reposition the countryside in the shifting cultural hierarchy and moved in parallel with other Canadian men who were refashioning concepts of manliness, skill, fatherhood and recreation in the new industrial age.
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