Masculinities of the peripheries: reflections from fieldwork with men

This paper analyzes masculinities in the rural outskirts of San Salvador Cuauhtenco, an indigenous community in the Milpa Alta district of Mexico City.Using an ethnographic and intersectional approach inspired by Marcela Lagarde's methodological proposals and Clifford Geertz's interpretive theory, we conducted an extended study with men from the community.The research was structured around three axes: work, parental bonds, and emotional bonds.In the workplace, conditions of exploitation were evident, including workdays of more than 14 hours, economic precariousness, health risks, and substance use as a survival strategy.In the family sphere, the persistence of authoritarian father figures and the reproduction of patterns of intergenerational violence were identified.In terms of emotional bonds, relationships marked by the reaffirmation of masculinity through the disciplining of women and competition with other men were observed.The findings show that gender-based violence is deeply embedded in the construction of male experiences, functioning as a central element of socialization and legitimization among peers.The study proposes reflecting on the need to generate community strategies and public policies that question the violent logic in the production of masculinities in peripheral contexts, and raises the importance of incorporating the voices and experiences of men themselves in the design of such interventions.