Reconstructing Masculinity and Vocational Identity in Technical Education Among Young Men in South South Nigeria

This study examines the construction of masculinity and vocational identity among young male students in technical education institutions in South South Nigeria, with focus on Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa States. Masculinity norms significantly shape young men's engagement with vocational education, their choice of trade areas, their career ambitions, and their willingness to persist through challenges. Yet the intersection of masculinity, identity formation, and technical education in the Nigerian context has received minimal scholarly attention. This study employs a critical feminist and gender studies theoretical framework alongside narrative inquiry methodology. In-depth life story interviews are conducted with 45 young men enrolled in technical colleges and polytechnics in Port Harcourt, Warri, and Yenagoa across a 14-month data collection period. Participant observation in workshops and institutional spaces supplements narrative data. Thematic and narrative analysis traces how masculinity norms are constructed, negotiated, and performed in technical education contexts and how these constructions shape vocational identity. Findings are expected to reveal competing masculinity discourses in technical settings, where trade skill performance serves as a site of masculine identity construction while some vocational choices are rejected for failing to align with dominant masculine ideals. The study also examines how family, peer, and media influences shape masculinity-vocation alignment. Theoretical contributions include an empirically grounded model of masculinity and vocational identity formation in Nigerian technical education. Recommendations address gender-transformative pedagogy and policy implications. Keywords: masculinity, vocational identity, technical education, South South Nigeria, narrative inquiry