The Young Model: Principles of Civility for the Use of Youth

Abstract

Etiquette manuals reflect the culture physiognomy of a local scene. In Latin America there were several manuals that were highlighted as bibles for youth modeling in standards of civility and citizenship. This work focuses on evaluating the Colombian manual by Pío del Castillo; one of the least worked on the study of manuals, and that it presents a complex compendium of urbanity norms that, through clear instruction, both moral and physical, it draws what, in the nineteenth century context, is recovered as the young model. Multiple authors’ views are outlined, evaluating the issue of civility and the role of textbooks and manuals in the formation process of it; its relationship with European civility, the radical or severity of instruction and the State's role as a trainer. It is discovered through the critical analysis of the manual that the configuration of a citizen is not limited to polite ways but to a whole network that draws the ideal behavior for the century.