Bringing together a unique collection of narrative accounts based on the lived experience of queer Chicano/Mexicano sons, this book explores fathers, fathering, and fatherhood. In many ways, the contributors reveal the significance of fathering and representations of fatherhood in the context of queer male sexuality and identity across generations, cultures, class, and Mexican immigrant and Mexican American families. They further reveal how father figures―godfathers, grandfathers, and others―may nurture and express love and hope for the queer young men in their extended family. Divided into six sections, the book addresses the complexity of father-queer son relationships; family dynamics; the impact of neurodiverse mental health issues; the erotic, unsafe, and taboo qualities of desire; encounters with absent, estranged or emotionally distant fathers; and a critical analysis of father and queer son relationships in Chicano/Latino literature and film.
Author(s): Adelaida R. Del Castillo (editor), Gibrán Güido (editor)
Edition: 1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 306
Tags: Queer Studies, Fatherhood, Masculinity Studies
Series Editor Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
Notes on Contributors
Chapter 1: Introduction: Queer Chicano/Mexicano Accounts of Fathers, Fathering, and Fatherhood
Why This Book?
Approach, Voice, and Style
The Presence of Being
Family Settings
Neurodiversity
Conclusion
References
Part I: “Can I Write About My Father?”: Representations of the Presence of Being
Introduction to Section
Chapter 2: Sky Maps
Chapter 3: Journal 2
Chapter 4: January Spirals
Chapter 5: Unwriting the Father
The Short Version
The Visit
Who Is He?
A Childhood Hero
What Changed?
Something Queer
Chapter 6: Overall Prince, Now Father Lauren: On Becoming a Two-Spirit Butch Queen Father
Mothers Get All the Glory, Mothers Do the Most Work, but What of the Father?
Being a Father, Being a Good Man, Saying Goodbye, Entering the Ranks …
Being a Father and All My Relations
The Call to Be a Father
Part II: Fathers, Father Figures, and the Family
Introduction to Section
Chapter 7: Tommy Paved the Way
Dad
Cayo
Tommy
Chapter 8: Todo sobre mi madre/All About My Mother
Chapter 9: Tito—A Remembrance of My Father
Chapter 10: Deddy
Chapter 11: My Two Boys
Alexandro
Mateo
Chapter 12: Punched in the Stomach
Part III: Fatherhood, Queer Consciousness, and Neurodiversity
Introduction to Section
Chapter 13: ¿Cómo estás, mi niño? (How Are You, My Boy?): Memories of Father and Fatherhood—Mental Illness, Enforced Masculinity, and Loss
Having To Be
Mental Illness
My Freedoms and His Restrictions
The Cultural Burden of Manhood
References
Chapter 14: My Dead Father
Coming Up for Air
This Body and Boys
Lessons from My Grandmother’s Garden
Chapter 15: Alchemistas (Alchemists)
Chapter 16: Coming Home to Myself
Transnational Identity
Mental Illness
Losing Self
Finding My Way
My Father’s Fathering
Having to Heal
References
Chapter 17: The Best
Part IV: Desire, Daddy Issues, and Taboos
Introduction to Section
Chapter 18: Border Crossings
Chapter 19: How to Compromise Yourself
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
Chapter 20: A Performance Recovery: Cruising Fathered Memories Through Dependency Circuits
This Performance Opens
Round and Round: Splits of Mind, Winding Roads
8811 Woodman Avenue
Wood Man Avenue
743 Avenue H-7
12571 Brandford Street
40739 Rockie Lane
11777 Neenach Street
5743 Monaco Drive
6323 Katrina Place
8811 Woodman Avenue
11326 Reseda Boulevard
Note to you
The Mirror
(My) Mourning (My) Father
Drawing Blood
Chapter 21: “Make Me Your Toxic Son, Daddy”: The Bio-Familial Bonds Created by Gay Men Through “Bug Chasing” and “Gift Giving”
Part V: Situating Spent and Shifting Fatherhoods
Introduction to Section
Chapter 22: Our Shimmering and Ephemeral DNA
Chapter 23: Querido Padre: Things I Want to Tell You and Other Thoughts
Mom and You
How Do I Make Sense of You and What You Left Behind?
My Inheritance
My Daddy Issues and I
Meeting You in Mexico
Chapter 24: No Last Name
Chapter 25: Communion
Chapter 26: Chrysalis
Part VI: Fatherhood Patterns and Passionate Fathering
Introduction to Section
Chapter 27: Like Father, Like Queer Son?: Gay Chicanx and Latinx Males and Their Fathers
Introduction
Fatherhood and Latino Masculinity
Queer Chicanx and Latinx Males and Their Fathers
Disidentification and Distancing: Reconfiguring Gender Norms
Like Father, Like Queer Son: A Closer Look in the Mirror
Personal Reflections
Conclusion
References
Filmography
Chapter 28: My Padrino
Chapter 29: God Is Never Ashamed of Us
Chapter 30: You Will Love
Select Bibliography
Index
