Por Imaginación Y Amor – El Permanecer Del Padre Mexicano a Distancia for Imagination and Love – the Permanence of the Mexican Father Who Fathers at a Distance
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POR IMAGINACIÓN Y AMOR – EL PERMANECER DEL PADRE MEXICANO A DISTANCIA FOR IMAGINATION AND LOVE – THE PERMANENCE OF THE MEXICAN FATHER WHO FATHERS AT A DISTANCE Marta Sánchez A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of a doctor in philosophy in the School of Education (Culture, Curriculum and Change). Chapel Hill 2012 Approved by: George W. Noblit Madeleine Grumet Juan F. Carrillo Claudia G. Cervantes-Soon Sherick A. Hughes Luis Urrieta, Jr. ©2012 Marta Sánchez ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT MARTA SÁNCHEZ: Por imaginación y amor – el permanecer del padre mexicano a distancia For imagination and love – the permanence of the Mexican father who fathers at a distance (Under the direction of George W. Noblit) In this dissertation I explore the lives of Mexican fathers on both sides of the México-U.S. border with attention to the fathering practices of U.S.-based fathers in the New Latino South (Kochhar, Suro, & Tafoya, 2005) who father at a distance of time and space from their children and spouses. In-depth interviews with fathers, mothers and children reveal that Mexican families create new ways of being a family in the “U.S.- México transnation” (Boehm, 2008) and work to ensure that the family remains a site of hope, courage, imagination and love. U.S.-based fathers embrace various dispositions, practices and strategies to be involved affectively with their children across borders, thus redefining the ‘father as provider’ construct. Cross-cutting themes include the desire to give children “un futuro” by providing them with a home and an education. Utilizing a Chicana feminist framework, I explore how fathers work within and beyond dominant ideologies to create libratory spaces. This meta-ideologizing (Sandoval, 2000) helps fathers reclaim their right to father, work, imagine and love. Implications for México include understanding that the father’s contribution is much more than economic (Navarro, 2008); re-establishing local economies to stem migration flows; facilitating dialogue within schools to support children parented at a distance; and strengthening family, education and social policies to create a birth to university pipeline. The U.S. iii should reexamine federal immigration law with regards to family reunification, pathways to citizenship and support for safe and humane circular migration. A readjustment of U.S. foreign policy towards México is necessary in trade and security. In order to prevent the further destruction of local economies, free trade agreements that are more favorable to corporations than to the people of both nations must be amended. U.S. military aid that threatens México’s sovereignty must be reconsidered. Research is needed in both countries to understand the pedagogical needs of the transnational child whose presence will increase as globalization continues to produce split-households (Glenn, 1983). Finally, the pedagogy of the Mexican immigrant father is one of imagination and love; this is an important pedagogy in times of social erasure of the family. iv Para Guadalupe A. Sánchez, un papá extraordinario, inspirador, inteligente, cariñoso y de gran capacidad de trabajar, imaginar y amar—un hombre siempre presente aun a través de la gran distancia entre el vivir y el morir. For Guadalupe A. Sánchez, an extraordinary father, inspirational, intelligent, affectionate and with a great capacity to work, imagine and love—a man ever-present, even across the great distance between life and death. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge the support and guidance of my dissertation supervisor, chair of my committee, and advisor, Dr. George W. Noblit, and the members of my committee, Drs. Madeleine Grumet, Deborah Eaker-Rich, Luis Urrieta, Jr., Juan F. Carrillo, Claudia G. Cervantes-Soon, and Sherick A. Hughes—a more remarkable group of people gathered to help me in this important moment is not imaginable! I want to thank Dr. Steve Knotek, whose support has affirmed my ongoing interest in Latino family life and Latino pedagogies of the home, as described by Villenas and Bernal- Delgado. Thank you, Steve, for your invitation to collaborate on your own research in this field. I also want to acknowledge the this study was funded in part by a Mellon Dissertation Fellowship and Federico Gil Dissertation Award. I want to thank Isabel Sánchez, my mother, who has supported this and all phases of my life with unwavering kindness, generosity and love. Gracias, Mami. Thank you to my brothers and sister: Dr. Joseph A. Sánchez, Dr. Heriberto G. Sánchez, and la profesora Patricia Izek—you are a wonderful presence in this world. You are the refracted light of Mom and Pops. Thank you for being profoundly interesting human beings and such high achievers, and for always making sure the door was open for me to follow—how ever-so-grateful I remain to have you in my life. I see you, and I think of el Compadre Chonnnn. Thank you to the fathers, mothers and children who made this study possible; to my cousin Ofelia Flores Muñoz who helped me gain entry with participants in México vi and who traveled with me throughout the country; to Pascual Muñoz Padilla, Oscar Flores García, María Concepción Pérez Sánchez, Veronica Hernández Campos, and so many others in México who must remain unnamed to protect the participants’ identity; to Oaxaca-based researcher and historian, Guillermo Marín Ruiz, who encouraged me to look beyond sociological factors in understanding the fathers’ stories; to Pedro Esteva for his wonderful hospitality while driving me to México City’s foremost bookstores in search of books on Mexican fathering, immigration and the family; to Dr. Teresa Chapa, UNC Librarian for Latin America, Iberia and Latina/o Studies, for connecting me to Pedro and for her help state-side. Thank you, Dr. Lyneise Williams—your friendship means so much to me. Thank you Pat Mora, amiga querida, your work and emails are water for the thirsty! Thank you Dr. Arturo Escobar for introducing me to Guillermo Bonfil Batalla. Thank you Dr. Valentin Mudimbe. Thank you Gloria Anzaldúa for writing destabilizing, decentering texts; I hope my life will be such a text. Thank you to Valente Lozano who helped me gain entry with participants in the U.S., and to the U.S.-based Mexican entrepreneur who must remain unnamed in order to protect the identity of study participants. The extraordinary access he gave me to the work site where a large part of this study took place has made this dissertation possible. Thank you to my sister-in-law Doris Fischer-Sánchez and my cousin Gregoria Sánchez Campos, her siblings and daughters, and to my cousin Roberto Muñoz González and his family. Their presence during my mother’s surgeries and difficult recovery allowed me to pursue the final stages of this work. Finally, thank you Sergio Ortiz-Niembro—remember that trip to the Great Smoky Mountains, part laughter, part rest, and then the climb? Thank you for giving me that every day. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES……………..…………………....………………..…………….........xv LIST OF FIGURES………...…………………………...……….……………………....xv Chapter I INTRODUCTION, TERMS, RATIONALE AND STUDY CONTEXT……………………………………….………………………..1 Definition of Terms……………………..……….….….…...…….……….5 El norte……………………………………....….…….….………..5 Immigrant…………………………………….….……….…….….6 Illegal immigrant versus undocumented immigrant….……..…….7 Split-household………………………………….………….……..9 Apostándole a la familia mexicana/Betting on the Mexican Family.…...10 Origins of the Study……………………….…………..…………11 Why Mexican Fathering?...............................................................15 The Socio-Political Context of the Study………………………..……....19 Competing Narratives on Mexican and other Latino Immigrants……………………………………………….………20 The Nativist Moment…..…………...……………………………22 Mutually Exclusive Places to Be…..…..…………………….…..24 The Fathers in México……….…………………………………………..26 Living and Working in the Time of NAFTA…….…………...…27 viii La narco-guerra……………………….…………………………31 Intimate Terrorism: Del norte…y mexicana……….……………37 II LITERATURE REVIEW: INTERSECTING FIELDS…………...…….41 The ‘Father as Provider’ Construct–A Historical View….......………….43 The Father’s Contribution…………….…..….………………….……….47 Immigrant Fathers Living with their Children……..……………....….…48 Transnational Fatherhood…….…………...……….…………………….50 Child Outcomes………….…...........…………………………………….54 Conclusions…………………….………………………………………..56 III THE RESEARCH PROCESS…….….…………...……………………..58 Who are They?..........................................................................................58 Four Fathers en el norte……....………………………….………60 Emilio López…….…………………………...….…….…60 Carlos Sotomayor………..………………...………….….61 Alfredo Ramírez………………………..………………...62 Andrés Rueda……………………………………..……...64 Cinco papás en México……………………………………..……64 Jesús Pérez………………………..……………………...64 Mario Romero……………………..……………………..66 Roberto Salazar……………………………..……………68 Martín Rulfo………..…………………………………….69 Juan Pérez………………………..………………………71 Positionality, Theoretical Framework and Representation……..…..……72 Positionality……………………………………..……………….72 ix Theoretical framework…………….……...….…….……………74 Chicana Feminism………….…...……….………………74 Methodology of the Oppressed……….…...…….……….75 U.S. Third-World Feminism……....….…...…….……….78 México Profundo……...………...….…………..………..80 Data Collection and Analysis……….………………….………...82 Representation and Translation………….…….…...…….84 La Malinche in the New Latino South: Translating with Angst and Glee the