Genealogical masculinity and the “viking” of the capitol

Reflections on virility and politics

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.48006/2358-0097-7102

Keywords:

Masculinity, Virility, Authoritarianism, Anthropology of Gender, Politics

Abstract

This essay invites the reader to reflect upon virile masculinity, authoritarianism and political ideology through the image of Jake Angeli, the man with a horned Viking hat and face paint at the United States Capitol riot of January 6th, 2021. By approaching how images of masculine bravery have been appropriated by fundamentalist regimes, this text reveals one of the main social-anthropological mechanisms to perpetuate and reproduce machismo: the political desire to revive a symbol, brought from an ancient past, through which men are depicted as wilder, stronger, more violent and more dominant than today. By means of historic and anthropological examples this text questions the political representation of a masculinity that is untied from civilizational progress and ignores feminist and LGBTQIA+ social conquests.

References

BRAZ, Camilo; MELLO, Luiz. 2020. “Masculinidades e Androcracia em Tempos de COVID-19”. In: Miriam Pillar Grossi e Rodrigo Toniol (Org.). Cientistas Sociais e o Coronavírus. São Paulo: ANPOCS; Florianópolis: Tribo da Ilha: 269-273.

BOURDIEU, Pierre. 2014. A dominação masculina. BestBolso: Rio de Janeiro

CONNELL, Robert. 1995. “Políticas da Masculinidade”. Educação & Realidade 20(2): 185-206.

COURTINE, Jean-Jacques. 2013. “Robustez na Cultura: Mito Viril e Potência Muscular”. In: Alan Corbin, Jean Jacques Courtine & Georges Vigarello (Org.). História da Virilidade. Petrópolis-RJ: Vozes: 554-577.

HAROCHE, Claudine. 2013. “Antropologias da Virilidade: O Medo da Impotência”. In: Alan Corbin, Jean Jacques Courtine & Georges Vigarello (Org). História da Virilidade. Petrópolis-RJ: Vozes: 15-34.

MISKOLCI, Richard; CAMPANA, Maximiliano. 2017. “Ideologia de Gênero”: Notas para a Genealogia de um Pânico Moral Contemporâneo. Sociedade e Estado 32(3): 725-748.

VIVEROS VIGOYA, Mara. 2018. As Cores da Masculinidade: Experiências Interseccionais e Práticas de Poder na Nossa América. Rio de Janeiro: Papéis Selvagens.

VALE DE ALMEIDA, Miguel. 1996. “Género, Masculinidade e Poder: Revendo um Caso do Sul de Portugal”. Anuário Antropológico 20(1): 161-189.

WELZER-LANG, Daniel. 2001. “A Construção do Masculino: Dominação das Mulheres e Homofobia”. Revista Estudos Feministas 9(2): 460-482.

Downloads

Published

2021-08-14

How to Cite

Moreira, L. (2021). Genealogical masculinity and the “viking” of the capitol: Reflections on virility and politics. Novos Debates, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.48006/2358-0097-7102

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Essays

License

Copyright (c) 2021 Novos Debates

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Open Access Statement

Novos Debates is an open access journal. We do not charge any fee for the publication of articles or for access to our issues. All our content, unless otherwise indicated, is licensed under Creative Commons Brazil Attribution 3.0 (CC BY 3.0 BR).

You are free to:
– Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
– Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially
– The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.

Under the following terms:
– Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
– No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.