Docentes y educación artística

VIDA allows girls to access sport in a mixed-gender setting but the Chévere and Bacano field offices do not incorporate a gender-focused methodology like those commonly seen in SGD programming (such as female empowerment or gender equity). Low female participant numbers and gendered staff roles suggested VIDA and the public space where VIDA operates were gendered. However, participants, community members and staff were confused about, or not comfortable openly discussing why girls’ participation numbers were significantly lower than boys’ numbers when the door was metaphorically “always open to everyone” (Field notes, Chévere and Bacano).56 _{This situation led me to}

repeatedly ask, “where are the girls?”

This chapter will investigate how space and subjects are constructed relationally through institutionalized racism and gendered and sexual politics. Space is intentionally addressed as the first inquiry theme to prime readers to better understand the research context and local social norms before diving into the nuances of entangled social relations. By beginning with the contextual complexities – social, cultural and historical – that shape and constrain space in Chévere and Bacano, I will explore how the local hegemonic culture – particularly violence – establishes and normalizes gendered space,

56 _{When I began this research, I believed one of the field research locations would include a gender-focused}

methodology and one would not; however, due to my university’s security restrictions established by the Ethics committee – the final step before leaving to conduct field work – I could not physically access the field office that applies a gender-focused methodology. To say I was concerned about my project because of this situation is an understatement. When I arrived at both field locations there were fewer girls than confirmed by VIDA in prior discussions. So, because of circumstance, I began my fieldwork repeatedly asking everyone, “where are the girls?”

which in turn reinforces girls and young women’s lack of participation at VIDA. To do this, the concepts of safe space and gendered space are explained below.

Space

The term safe space has been adopted and adapted throughout history to the point where academics argue it has lost meaning, is overused, or may undermine critical thinking (Rom, 1998). The Roestone Collective57 _{(2014) explains the concept of safety varies by}

context and time, noting “the categories of safe and unsafe are socially produced and context dependent” (p. 1350). The term space is also fluid; “It moves and changes, depending on how it is used, what is done with and to it, and how open it is to even further changes” (Puwar, 2004, p. 2). In this research, space is understood as “an imaginary construction reliant on ritualized forms of control,” with control coming in multiple forms such as from parents, guerrillas, the Church, and the government (The Roestone Collective, 2014, p. 1349).

Analyzing safe space through a metaphysical lens, safe relations, such as psychological considerations, social interactions, and human relationships that impact the feeling of being safe, must be incorporated. The United Nations Population Fund (2015) began to consider the psychological aspects by defining safe space as absent of “trauma, excessive stress, violence (or fear of violence), or abuse” (p. 5) The relational aspect of safety is expanded further by Spaaij and Schulenkorf (2014) who explain safe space as a “figurative, psychosocial space constructed through social relations”, which “refers to a way of acknowledging and relating to others” (p. 683). Ultimately, they define it as a

57 _{The Roestone Collective is Heather Rosenfeld and Elsa Noterman. “Roestone” is an anagram of the first}

parts of their last names. The Roestone Collective is based at University of Madison, Wisconsin and much of their work focuses on feminist geographies.

“multidimensional process” affected by five critical dimensions: physical, psychological/affective, sociocultural, experimental, and political (Spaaij and Schulenkorf, 2014, p. 633).

Central to this chapter is framing safe space as a social construction and a dynamic process, or as Gotham (2003) articulates: “the idea that spatial boundaries, identities and meanings are negotiated, defined and produced through social interaction, social conflict and struggles between different groups” (p. 723). “Safe space relations” will be used as a key term with the goal of incorporating several considerations: the notion of non-physical violence in a physical space; a metaphorical space for unabated emotional expression; and, the relational negotiations constantly changing due to internal and external players and factors (e.g. violent groups, government legislation, and common law). The third aspect – the changing of relational negotiations – is recognized in this research as the volatile nature of the communities studied and the vulnerable positioning of participants, community members, and VIDA. VIDA’s positioning engenders an environment where participants can be safe and can also experience risk- taking. Viewing safe space relations as dynamic, constantly evolving, and relational allows us “to understand how the people who cultivate safe spaces recognize and negotiate sometimes deeply problematic differences” (The Roestone Collective, 2014, p. 1348).

The safe space continuum is evident in both the development and wide application of the term. 58 _{The relational term, “gendered space” is defined as girls’ and}

“women’s lesser access to certain spaces, and the association of space with gender

58 _{The concept of safe space is not reserved for feminist thought or application alone; it is practiced in a}

stratification” (Spain, 1993, p. 137). Research reveals that space assists in the maintenance and reproduction of culturally specific gendered behavior (Brady, 2005). For example, feminist geographers argue social relations are shaped by the exponential effect of (un)safe and gendered spaces coupled with ideological assumptions about gender roles (Sanger, 1995).

Public and private space in Colombia is gendered. Rodriguez (2001) argues that the conversation linking Western development with Colombian patriarchy depicts women as silent and unseen actors who gain attention through the male sexual gaze and gain purpose through their relationship to children and men. She builds her position by drawing from Thomas (1995) who posits that due to the Catholic Churches’ influence, Colombian women are categorized in relation to the Bible as “asexual Marys or over- sexualized Eves,” resulting in women figuratively becoming “decentered subjects, subjects who lack being, subjects diluted in the goals, needs, and desires of others” (Rodriguez, 2001, p. 485). Through either role in this theory, Colombian women become “symbolic mothers” whose existence in the private realm (e.g., maids, secretaries, homemakers) and public sphere (e.g., policy makers in the fields of health and education) limits them to serve others (Rodriguez, 2001).59

Idealized femininity extends from the individual to the family through Mary. The revered patriarchal nuclear family endorses traditional gender roles: the man is the protector, decision maker and financial earner and the woman is the mother and caretaker who depends on a man’s financial support. Mary is the guardian of the home where she

59 _{Gendered roles vary by social class, but even in the wealthier classes, space is gendered. For example,}

during her childhood, Colombian journalist Paternostro (1999) was excluded from political discussion because the subject of politics was considered men’s business; and only during adulthood did she recognize that on Friday nights once she was safely returned home by her boyfriend, teenage boys were ushered into brothels as a process of male socialization.

follows “moral code”; whereas, Eve is an independent woman moving freely in public space. Eve’s position as a woman moving freely outside her home and in public space signifies that she is seductive and “available to address men’s needs” (Rodriguez, 2001, p. 486). The coloniality of gender is unveiled in layers at this junction as we see two dichotomous biblical female characters simplified as good or bad because of their relationship to space. Their restricted movement affects their physical access and is psychologically restricting; girls’ movement in public space is associated to sexual promiscuity, which is connected to individual and family reputation. This is not hearsay from 1492. Public spaces such as offices, bars, and sports facilities are traditionally viewed as masculine spaces and unwelcoming to women (Gutmann & Viveros, 2005), but kitchens and beauty parlors are relegated spaces for women.

Subjects socialized within this patriarchal system, including the interlocutors in this research, consider spaces segregated by gender and women’s restricted access as normal. For example, after sharing lunch in a home-style restaurant in Bacano with Diego, a young Afro-Colombian man who volunteers as a leader for VIDA, he explained how his life differs from his grandparents’ lives. His response directly connected gender to space:

Yes, in the era of my grandparents, they tell me that the woman could not leave her house. If she did, it was only to go to school and to go from school to home. But now it's changed. Women have a bit more freedom in where they can visit with friends and partake in recreation. They can enjoy spaces like shopping

centers; they chat in the beauty salons and they are finding out that there are many women entrepreneurs and workers. (Participant, Bacano, Diego)

Diego highlighted a change in women’s access to public space in recent history, which he correlated to opportunities for women to socialize and work outside the home. Considering the connections between neoliberalism, spectacular femininity and beauty in Colombia (addressed further in chapter 10), it is no surprise that he mentions shopping centers and beauty salons in his comment, as those spaces have always been associated as feminine spaces. Many older interlocutors noted that young women are now attending professional football games at the local stadiums, a public space previously only occupied by men as both players and spectators. This statement was often accompanied by a sigh of disappointment in the “modern” young women’s behavior coupled with examples such as drinking alcohol or going to parties late into the night.60 _{In other words,}

for many people, Mary is not supposed to attend the football game.