Being a man in war contexts: What Colombian people living in Chile think

Abstract

Nowadays, the scientific community, and even men themselves, have asked for studies that explain men’s behavior and the real meanings of being a man for society. That is why this study attempts to explore and understand masculinities inside the Colombian armed conflict, through analyzing the opinions of Colombian people living in Chile about the topic. It is framed within a qualitative research, based in the interpretive paradigm through the phenomenological investigation. There were 9 participants who were interviewed and the data analysis was made with the help of atlas ti and the methodology called thematic network analysis. Two main results came up when talking about men outside and inside conflict. First, similarities in terms of characteristics, ways of express their emotions and relate, and second, differences in terms of their duties as men. The results highlighted the importance of the demilitarization of masculinities, in order to allow men that stop being involved in an armed conflict to reintegrate successfully in the society. This demands and would require a remaking and resignification of masculinities, where individual, social, political and economic life are involved, and where all social actors, such as civils, politicians, armed group leaders and men themselves, participate actively.