The Socio-cultural Construction of Masculinity and Femininity in Blood-Feuding Practices: an Anthropological Inquiry in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia masculinity, femininity, sociocultural construction, blood-feuding, Amhara Region

Abstract

 This study investigates the socio-cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity in relation to blood-feuding practices in Tach Armachiho, Central Gondar Zone, Amhara Region. It examines how the local community instills gendered behaviors through oral traditions such as chants, proverbs, poems, and naming practice to safeguarding personal and familial honor and prestige. To this end, the study employs a qualitative ethnographic research design, using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and participant observation. Thematic analysis was employed to interpret the data and oral tradition. The major findings show that masculinity and femininity are valued according to the community’s perceptions of the capacity to protect family members; hence, masculinity is strongly associated with, strength, resilience, endurance, , while femininity is connected to powerlessness and subordination, with their roles narrowly defined as wives, housemaids, and service providers. The study also reveals that masculinity is embedded within a cultural system that valorizes honor, courage, protection while femininity is defined with expectations concerning care, respectability, obedience, and family responsibility. Proverbs, chants, poems, and stories, function as cultural scripts through which communities transmit ideas,