Dismissed, Displayed, and Disposed of: Political Violence Against the Male Body in the South American Polycrisis

Abstract The polycrisis can be examined through violence against males in practices of dismissing, displaying, and the increasingly public disposing of male bodies in the northern cone of South America, specifically those migrating for survival and escaping violence. An ideology and cult of hombres con armas (men with guns) destroys bodies of unarmed men to reinforce domination. By looking at the case of Alcides, a survival migrant from Venezuela, the practices of mourning loss and of being a “somebody” even when unarmed attempt to undermine the ideology of hombres con armas and the threat of death. A preliminary pastoral reflection on homicide explores when the nonviolent strategy of survival through migration proves insufficient, and a man becomes victim to hombres con armas. Ultimately, this paper provides an exploratory foundation for further inquiry into the banality of courage and how communities may respond and not succumb to the ideology and cult of hombres con armas despite the powerful energy and weight death produces within a polycrisis.