‘They say he is a man now’: a tale of fathers and sons

Abstract

Journal of Latin American Cultural StudiesTravesia ISSN: 1356-9325 (Print) 1469-9575 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjla20 'They say he is a man now': a tale of fathers and sonsSimilarly to other minimalist societies lacking formalised social structures and offices, emotions play a central role in sustaining, expressing and evaluating relationships among the Calon Gypsies of Bahia. An analysis of emotions therefore has to take into account Calon views of personal transformation and how people's interactions, as well as their views of themselves and situations, are patterned and described through emotions. The article is centred on three episodes that focus on the father-son relationship and are marked by strong affective ties. Love, fear and anger for one's father or son, and a memory of care and sharing, are set against a world that is perceived as hostile and underpin the Calon institution of revenge. This article describes how, through the performance of culturally intelligible forms of violence, actors in specific social positions manipulate and create social order. As this order is unambiguously gendered, the article explores the making of a gendered, specifically masculine subjectivity: how through an affective relationship with others, one becomes and remains a man (homem).

‘Only the dead don't make the future’: Calon lives between non‐Gypsies and death

“…For Calon, Ciganos are by default brave and honourable, and this understanding informs interpretations of incidences of violence which involve Ciganos. Brasileiros , on the other hand, are presumed to be dangerous in an unpredictable and criminal manner, and incapable of knowing how to behave properly (Fotta ). And indeed, in important ways, Jurons do not ‘know’ as Ciganos do: the relatives of violently killed Jurons do not get involved in feuds and even continue living in the same house where the murdered had been living at the time of his or her death.…”

“…through hard work). In a similar vein, Calon refer to some individuals as having led ‘lives of suffering’ ( vidas sofridas ) or as having been led to their own doom by their care and love for others, especially their children (Fotta : 32; : 210). Although I do not have space to expand on it here, it is significant that – consistent with the Calon vision of life as a continuous process of future‐making, and the correlated openness and ambiguity of singular actions – these forms of sacrifice are attributed only to deceased relatives.…”