Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses representations of masculinities in relation to urban violence in Colombia, focusing on peripheral young men as presented in recent Colombian testimonios and documentaries. It aligns a particular model of violent masculinity as constructed and imposed upon peripheral urban men.

Paper long abstract:

Colombia has an unquestioned history of violence. This violence has taken place in various locations and to varying degrees of severity, however, it has been a constant since independence. Throughout the many periods of violent conflict, particular violent actors have been overwhelmingly focused upon as its principal perpetrators. In this paper, I focus on the most recent cycle of urban violence, from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s, and its focus on peripheral young men as protagonists of this form of violence. Using a number of Colombian testimonios and documentaries from this period, this paper will explore representations of young men in peripheral urban communities through a discussion of the resurgence of the civilisation and barbarism discourse and its imageries. Although the concept of machismo has been significant historically in constructing representations of masculinities in some areas of the Latin American region, this paper suggests that, in Colombia at least, it is not sufficient. Here, masculinities related to violence are aligned with a more global model of violent masculinity, based on a generally peripheral urban location rather than the nation states or geographical regions.