Juvenile Cultures and ‘Gendered Networks’. Towards a New Analytic Approach on Youth Contemporaneity in Colombia

Leonardo Montenegro Martínez
lmontenegro@unicolmayor.edu.co
Universidad Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca
Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Abstract:

This article discusses some of the conceptual pillars traditionally used in the studies of youthcultures. In particular, the author stresses the relevance of the category ofgenderin theanthropological analysis of this phenomenon. Moreover, he emphasizes the need to establisha relational perspective in those studies, where the categories of gender, social class (or body),locality, generation, ethnicity and identity are located, which are fundamental in the study ofyouth cultures. Only through a true «interactivation» of these categories can the complexsubject positions (individual and collective) be illuminated that are articulated in thecontemporary dynamics of youth cultures. This article is the result of ethnographic studiesrealized with young raversin Bogotá, Colombia, between 2002 and 2004

Keywords: Youth cultures, gender, identity, subjectivity, subject positions.