“Women are those who lose their sense of shame”: resistance and fulfilment of gender expectations in dissident initiatives in a rural district of Argentina

The present article analyzes how and why women are those who “lose their sense of shame” to coordinate and take part in social interventions and dissident activities based on the notion of “participation” in the peripheries of La Laguna, a rural agro city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina....

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Main Author: Johana Kunin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut Pluridisciplinaire pour les Etudes sur l'Amérique Latine
Series:L'Ordinaire des Amériques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/orda/4705
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author Johana Kunin
author_facet Johana Kunin
author_sort Johana Kunin
collection DOAJ
description The present article analyzes how and why women are those who “lose their sense of shame” to coordinate and take part in social interventions and dissident activities based on the notion of “participation” in the peripheries of La Laguna, a rural agro city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Supported by extensive ethnographic fieldwork, this article asserts that an emic worldview in which women are associated with mothers and mothers with care enables women in La Laguna to withstand stigmatization and oppose hegemonic views on agricultural production and health in a district where social protest is nearly completely absent. The political maternalisms that we describe let women “take care” of “society”, the “neighborhood”, their “children” and even themselves. When doing so, they put themselves at risk, but such social risk is much less than it would be for men, who, with identities linked to notions of “real work” and “discretion”, do not have time for “stupidities”. Women are, thus, doubly able to both resist and fulfill gender expectations.
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spelling doaj.art-16a6909e58ee407c80afc270b0c7f9892024-02-14T14:56:42ZengInstitut Pluridisciplinaire pour les Etudes sur l'Amérique LatineL'Ordinaire des Amériques2273-009522410.4000/orda.4705“Women are those who lose their sense of shame”: resistance and fulfilment of gender expectations in dissident initiatives in a rural district of ArgentinaJohana KuninThe present article analyzes how and why women are those who “lose their sense of shame” to coordinate and take part in social interventions and dissident activities based on the notion of “participation” in the peripheries of La Laguna, a rural agro city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Supported by extensive ethnographic fieldwork, this article asserts that an emic worldview in which women are associated with mothers and mothers with care enables women in La Laguna to withstand stigmatization and oppose hegemonic views on agricultural production and health in a district where social protest is nearly completely absent. The political maternalisms that we describe let women “take care” of “society”, the “neighborhood”, their “children” and even themselves. When doing so, they put themselves at risk, but such social risk is much less than it would be for men, who, with identities linked to notions of “real work” and “discretion”, do not have time for “stupidities”. Women are, thus, doubly able to both resist and fulfill gender expectations.https://journals.openedition.org/orda/4705Argentinawomancarepolitical maternalismsocial development initiatives
spellingShingle Johana Kunin
“Women are those who lose their sense of shame”: resistance and fulfilment of gender expectations in dissident initiatives in a rural district of Argentina
L'Ordinaire des Amériques
Argentina
woman
care
political maternalism
social development initiatives
title “Women are those who lose their sense of shame”: resistance and fulfilment of gender expectations in dissident initiatives in a rural district of Argentina
title_full “Women are those who lose their sense of shame”: resistance and fulfilment of gender expectations in dissident initiatives in a rural district of Argentina
title_fullStr “Women are those who lose their sense of shame”: resistance and fulfilment of gender expectations in dissident initiatives in a rural district of Argentina
title_full_unstemmed “Women are those who lose their sense of shame”: resistance and fulfilment of gender expectations in dissident initiatives in a rural district of Argentina
title_short “Women are those who lose their sense of shame”: resistance and fulfilment of gender expectations in dissident initiatives in a rural district of Argentina
title_sort women are those who lose their sense of shame resistance and fulfilment of gender expectations in dissident initiatives in a rural district of argentina
topic Argentina
woman
care
political maternalism
social development initiatives
url https://journals.openedition.org/orda/4705
work_keys_str_mv AT johanakunin womenarethosewholosetheirsenseofshameresistanceandfulfilmentofgenderexpectationsindissidentinitiativesinaruraldistrictofargentina