AR: Latino Father Figures

Mi Papa, A Look at Latino Fathers and
Father Figures in Children's Picture Books
By Craig Heller. Multicultural Review (8)2, 18-32.
http://www.mcreview.com/toc1999.htm#MCRJune1999

Dr. Craig Heller is Assistant Director of the Honors and Foundation Fellows Program here at UGA. He spent last summer teaching a women's studies course in Geneva, Switzerland, with Dr. Martha Reeves. This fall, he is offering a special topics course in women's studies: Men and Feminism (WMST 4250H).

Craig was born in Los Angeles but spent most of his life outside the United States, living in Spain, Australia and Malaysia before return-

ing to Minneapolis for high school. He did undergraduate work in archaeology and anthropology at the University of Minnesota, graduate work in archaeology at the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque, and received his Ph.D. in Higher Education and Women's Studies from Penn State in 1994.

He became involved in women's studies because the Higher Education program at Penn State required a cognate field outside the College of Education. "I wanted to become involved with something that addressed the issues that were important to me, namely social justice," Craig says. "Women's studies was the most welcoming." Exploring the concept of gender issues in education, his dissertation was titled "Unlearning Patriarchy: Exploring Feminist Pedagogy in Introductory Women's Studies Classes."

After getting his Ph.D., Craig taught women's studies classes at Penn State for two years, then moved to Kenya where he taught Anthropology of Gender at the University of Nairobi and at the United States International University. From there, he went to Lithuania where he taught Sociology of Gender at the master's level at Vytautas Magnus University. Coming back to the U.S., he taught intro. classes at Utah State University, and then moved to the University of Georgia Academic Honors Program.

Craig says that there are two main reasons for men to become involved in women's studies. "One, avoiding essentialism and hypocrisy. It makes no sense to argue that you are being marginalized if you are marginalizing others," he says. "And two, role models. Part of why I'm effective as a women's studies teacher is because I can represent the patriarchy that feminism struggles against and work to subvert that patriarchy and its institutions which can be more effective than battering at them from the 'outside.'"

Another article on a related topic is: Heller, Craig (1997). "Selecting Children's Picture Books with Strong Black Fathers and Father Figures," MultiCultural Review (6)1 (March 1997), 38-53.

This article discusses the negative stereotyping and negative portrayal of Latino father figures in pre-1990s children's picture books. None of these types of books appear in this article fortunately. All of the following books project a positive image of Latino fathers. The books are divided into ten categories, which portray:
1) Religious practices and festivals of Latinos
2) Nurturing and child-rearing by fathers
3) Discipline practices by Latino fathers
4) Roles in recreational activities
5) Household chores and maintenance activities
6) Occupational and economic activities
7) Fathers and immigration
8) Absent fathers and reasons for
9) Other father figures, i.e. grandfathers, brothers, uncles
10) Guidelines for selecting books

Alma Ada's book, Gathering the Sun (1997) caught my attention because of a riveting painting of a father working in the field, holding his young son who is clinging to the father's neck so tenderly and lovingly. I would like that picture, so maybe I will buy this book so that I can scan the image as a reminder to me. During my youth, there were Mexican camps in our little village and bands of migrant workers who had children that had to play at the ends of the field the entire day. I think most kindly of their dedication and the trials that they persevered in order to participate in an economic condition not available in their country at the time.

Image and review selected from:
http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/nanasbooks/gatherA.html

This precious and beautiful book is a treasure. It is dedicated to the living memory of César Chávez, and it is an abecedario campesino or a farm worker's ABC. Alma Flor Ada wrote the Spanish text, Rosa Zubizarreta translated it into English, and Simón Silva magnificently illustrated it. The topics for most of the letters have to do with Mexican and Mexican American farm workers. The illustrations are powerful. One very positive theme is the family reading together. We are very proud and happy that Simón Silva is from the Imperial/Mexicali Valleys.

The book is uplifting, makes you feel good in what it says and in what it shows. Such as with the letter O for orgullo, or pride, in my family, language, culture, people, of who I am. Great to read aloud.
(4 - 8 years) - 40 pp.

This is article is a resource treasure, one that can be revisited according to the needs of your students.