It’s difficult to be a man, but it’s even more difficult to be an indigenous man: in/EXISTING masculine identities

Abstract

This article deals with the complex processes of identity construction in indigenous men. By incorporating the concept of "In/EXISTING identities" it seeks to account for a process that takes place in a contradictory manner. The prefix “in” intends to indicate both the existence and nonexistence of indigenous masculine identities that often "disappear" as in the case of the forced disappearance of the Azyotzinapa students in 2014. International law links the marginalization of indigenous peoples in the Americas to the lack of recognition of their rights, undermined by Western ethnocentric principles based on a notion of "white, blond, strong, successful manhood”. A feminist approach, calling for the fight against hierarchies and inequalities, and the giving of voice to "minorities" is incorporated, along with a concept of justice as a principle that requires equal opportunities for everyone regardless of sex, race, or ethnic group. Social inequalities are examined as historical and social constructions. Being a man is learned, and re-learned through complex socialization processes that in the case of indigenous identities require identifying Western constructs. Indigenous men experience such processes under conditions of economic, political, and sociocultural inequality, reaffirming their generic ethnicity in subaltern conditions. Some struggle to re-signify; others die trying.