‘They say I'm like that but they don't know me’: transcultural discourses of masculinity

Abstract

Although research on gender and discourse addresses monolingual and multilingual masculinities, few studies attempt to mesh the theoretical frameworks of these two areas of research. Moreover, performance of multilingual and multicultural masculinities is still underdiscussed and lacks researcher reflexivity. In this article, I argue that developing a transcultural perspective on masculinity reveals important complexities often forgotten in the dichotomized discourses of ‘hegemonic’ versus ‘alternative’ languages and masculinities. Using data from a nine-month, multisited ethnography of male Ecuadorian musicians, I show that, though most of these musicians spoke of their roles as men using heternormative and hypermasculine cultural discourses, their daily interactions were performances and resistances to these discourses. Moreover, the musicians' use of teasing, humor and self-deprecation allowed them to distinguish themselves from some discourses of masculinity. The result is a performance of what Kramsch and Whiteside termed ‘symbolic competences’ of transcultural masculinities. The musicians' marginalized status as legal, but still culturally and racially othered migrants played a key role in how they performed the varied symbolic competences of masculinity surrounding them.

Keywords:

• cultural identity
• gender identity
• identity construction
• indigenous languages
• language use
• multilinguals

Acknowledgments

A version of this article was presented at UCLA's 18th Conference on Language, Interaction and Culture. Thanks to attendees for their feedback. Also thanks to Shi-Xu and anonymous reviewers for their suggestions. Research for this article was conducted with approval from the University of Wisconsin – Madison Institutional Review Board. Protocol Number SE-2006-0535.

Notes on contributors

Michele Back is an Assistant Professor of Spanish Linguistics at George Mason University's Department of Modern and Classical Languages. Prior to her appointment at George Mason she worked at the University of California, Riverside's Department of Hispanic Studies and Center for Ideas and Society. Her research focuses on language, interaction and identity in multilingual, transnational and virtual contexts.