Sociocultural Representations and the Construction of Citizenship among San Cristóbal Students, Ayacucho

Gutiérrez Martínez J.B.; Ramos López J. · Desde el Sur (2025) · DOI: 10.21142/des-1703-2025-0072

Resumen

This research proposes a broadened understanding of citizenship as a situated and dynamic social practice, extending beyond formal legal frameworks. From an anthropological perspective, it examines how young people in Ayacucho experience and construct citizenship within contexts shaped by structural tensions, family ties, and relations with power. Adopting a sociocultural approach, the study incorporates symbolic, ethical, affective, and communicative dimensions. Through a questionnaire, it explores values such as solidarity, tolerance, and responsibility, and how these are expressed in everyday life. The research also highlights socially problematic practices such as bribery and nepotism, which are understood not merely as anti-values but as adaptive responses to a weak or corrupt institutional environment. Young people oscillate between normative discourses and informal practices, revealing a fragmented form of citizenship. The study concludes that citizenship education should be critical and reflective, taking into account material and symbolic conditions, and promoting situated ethical commitments, particularly in regions marked by exclusion and institutional mistrust.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Cristóbal de Huamanga