Ñeros, muchachos and new men. Culture, violence and reciprocity in the problematization of masculinity

Abstract

The category “culture” has been important to the constitution of anthropology as an academic discipline, because it is essential for considering the relationship between “ourselves” and “others” in the modern project of society. In the context of public policies that value gender analysis as a means to affirm human rights, this category, classified as “patriarchal”, affirms that inequalities between men and women are a form of “violence”, for which reason policy makers propose forms of “cultural change”. In this article I reflect on two different concepts of culture to consider the relations between masculinity and violence in Bogota, Colombia. This reveals tensions between a project for an equalitarian society and local forms of authority. Based on the notion of reciprocity, I reevaluate the idea of culture to consider the way gender relations are shaped in local contexts where public policies foster processes of citizen subjectivation, so that individuals can conceive of themselves as subjects with rights.