Genosphobia: The signification of gender in the cultural logic of xenophobia

Abstract

In general, xenophobia refers to fear or hatred of the ‘stranger’ and it is recognized as a multivocal term, largely overlapped with ethnocentrism, racism, nationalism, extremism or nativism. In this article, I show that it still has layers of meaning to be explored. Based on thirteen mixed interviews (semi-structured and in-depth) conducted in the city of Lima (Peru), in this work I argue that there is a stratum in the meaning of xenophobia that has not been explored in the academic literature: the overlapping of gender (both male and female) with the rejection of immigrants (in this case, Venezuelan immigrants in Lima), which I propose to call genosphobia. After describing the serendipitous discovery of this meaning stratum, I carry out an analysis of the cultural logic of xenophobia and a ‘thick’ description of the meaning construction of this phenomenon. The analysis leads to show the articulation of a ‘cultural libel’ by those who openly reject the immigrants, which in turn leads to an assimilationist mode of incorporation to the detriment of a lively multiculturalism.