Masculinity and Immigrant Health Practices: How Male Kurdish Immigrants to the United States Think about and Practice Health

Jihad K. Othman; Annulla Linders

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.14.1.02

Authors

Jihad K. Othman Salahaddin University, Iraq
Annulla Linders University of Cincinnati, U.S.A.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.14.1.02

Keywords:

Masculinity, Immigration, Health, Family, Exercise, Food

Abstract

Researchers have identified a host of factors that influence immigrant men’s understanding of and commitment to health, but overall the scholarship is still unsettled, in large part because the experiences of immigrant groups are so varied. In this paper, based on interviews with Kurdish immigrants in the United States, we demonstrate that the field of health provides both opportunities and pitfalls for men whose social, familial, and masculine aspirations simultaneously pull them into American life and push them towards a segregated existence. We conclude that men use a discourse of health to simultaneously assert themselves as men and maintain their connections to their original culture, just as they use a discourse of masculine responsibility to account for the health-related choices they make.

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Author Biographies

Jihad K. Othman, Salahaddin University, Iraq

Jihad K. Othman holds a masters’ degree in sociology from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. He teaches in the social work department at the Salahaddin University in Iraqi Kurdistan. He focuses on the gender based health behaviors, immigration, education, and identity and gender inequality. And also evaluates those humanitarian projects in the MENA region which have been implemented by the NGOs

Annulla Linders, University of Cincinnati, U.S.A.

Annulla Linders is an Associate Professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati. Her research is located at the intersection of history, culture, social movements, and politics and focuses on processes of meaning-making. She is currently at work on a book about the historical transformation of the American execution audience.

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