Risk and Refuge: Adolescent Boys’ Experiences of Violence in “Post-Conflict” Colombia

Abstract

Increasingly, researchers and practitioners are examining connections between public and private cycles of violence. In complex emergency settings, these cycles of violence often intersect with conflicting norms and values as societies work toward sustainable peace. Gender norms, particularly norms of masculinity, are not often highlighted in transdisciplinary violence studies. Furthermore, few studies on either subject capture the perspectives and experiences of adolescent boys. This study seeks to explore adolescent boys’ (13-17 years) experiences with violence at home and in the community in “post-conflict” Colombia. Thematic qualitative analysis of 20 interview transcripts from 14 Colombian boys in Cundinamarca ( n = 5) and Córdoba ( n = 9) revealed themes of conflict avoidance, hegemonic masculinity, and opportunities for change in the form of positive coping habits. Further research into social and emotional coping behaviors and linkages to perpetuating violence between adolescence and adulthood is needed.

Hidden Casualties: The Links between Armed Conflict and Intimate Partner Violence in Colombia

“…The connections between women's experiences of violence in "private" and larger sociopolitical structures are made invisible, even if that violence is more frequent and sometimes more traumatic because of its intimate connotations (Skjelsbaek 2006). Relying on dichotomies of violencesuch as battlefront/homefront, extraordinary/everyday, or public/privaterisks leading to simplistic understandings with limited capacity to improve the lives of people living in war zones (Browne et al 2019;Gray 2016aGray , 2019Kirby 2015;McWilliams and Ni Aolain 2014). If the goal of peace initiatives is a positive peace, without any forms of physical and structural violence that could be causes of future conflict (Cockburn 2004;Galtung 1969), violence in intimate partnerships must be addressed alongside sexualized aggressions perpetrated by armed groups.…”

Gendered Exposure, Gendered Response: Exposure to Wartime Stressors and PTSD in Older Vietnamese War Survivors

“…When women are imagined as incapable of making war and thus as illegitimate targets of fighting, women who enter military ranks are unlikely to receive the socialization and training that fosters resilience among male soldiers. By extension, men failing to live up to ideals of militarized masculinity may similarly be denied acceptance, camaraderie, and other resources that support mental health and resilience (Browne et al 2021).…”

The Risk that Travels with You: Links between Forced Displacement, Conflict and Intimate Partner Violence in Colombia and Liberia

“…Additionally, war can legitimize hyper-masculinity; exacerbating and normalizing violence when men seek or are expected to (re)assert masculinity in instances of community of familial vulnerability (Browne et al, 2019;Gibbs et al, 2020). This hyper-masculine aggression may become not only relatively more acceptable, but an adaptive behavior (Annan & Brier, 2010;Clark et al, 2010;Hudson et al, 2020;Saile et al, 2014;Vinck et al, 2007).…”

“…A much wider qualitative literature exists for Colombia and the drivers related to IPV among those experiencing forced displacement there (Browne et al, 2019;Wirtz, 2014;Alzate, 2018;Friedemann-Sánchez & Lovatón, 2012;Hynes, 2012;Hynes et al, 2016;Jones & Ferguson, 2009;Noe & Rieckmann, 2013). This literature includes a study that found over 50% of displaced women had suffered physical IPV versus 20% of non-displaced women in Colombia (Alzate, 2008).…”

“…In multiple Colombian studies, IPV has been linked to women's increased economic opportunities in displacement (Friedemann-Sánchez & Lovatón, 2012;Hynes et al, 2016). Browne et al (2019) found that men who had been excluded from employment or politics due to displacement in Colombia were more likely to perpetrate IPV as a negative coping mechanism for stress and a way to and reassert their masculinity. This marks an important contextual difference between Colombia and Liberia, where, as noted above, women's access to work was seen as a pathway to decrease household stress and, as a result, risk of IPV.…”