Open Access Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington
Browse
thesis_access.pdf (8.12 MB)

Feeling Their Way: Four Men Talk About Fatherhood in Valparaiso, Chile

Download (8.12 MB)
thesis
posted on 2021-11-10, 08:14 authored by Evans, Monica

In this study, I explore the experiences and understandings of fatherhood of four men in Valparaiso, Chile, who became fathers between the ages of 16 and 19 and lived geographically, but not emotionally, distant from their children at the time this fieldwork took place. I seek thus to interrogate stereotypes in social discourse, Gender and Development research and many institutions about Latin American fathers in similar situations (Viveros 2001). Given the emotionally-intense nature of this project, I also examine the impacts of emotions and empathy on the relationships that were developed within it, and on researcher and participant subjectivities inside and outside the research process - a topic seldom addressed in social science literature (Bondi 2005). In framing this research, I draw on feminist, poststructural, structurationist and Participatory Action Research epistemologies, as well as ways-of-knowing that are indigenous to the area in which fieldwork took place. Methodologically, I carried out a series of unstructured and semi-structured interviews with each participant, and spent considerable time 'hanging out' with them as well (Kearns 2000). I also interviewed Chilean academics and practitioners working on issues of masculinity and fatherhood, both individually and in a group discussion. Presenting the work, I use stand-alone 'story sections' as well as interpretive chapters. These story sections provide more space than a 'straight' chaptered structure might allow for each man's personal tale to be told. I postulate that all four participants were emotionally compelled to 'father' and found spaces in which to do so, despite "larger stories" (Aitken 2009, 15) about youth, fatherhood and family that constricted their participation in their children's lives (Aguayo & Sadler 2006). Yet, they all remained unsatisfied with the "fathering spaces" (Aitken 2009, 171) that they were able to negotiate, and all felt pain as a result of this. Being recognised and emotionally understood 'as fathers' through empathetic engagement with me within this research process was thus a largely positive and sometimes transformative experience for participants. Such engagement also helped me to navigate concerns about positionality and representation, and reflecting on it later on enabled me to 'process' this emotionally-intense process, and to shift and deepen my analysis. In sum, the study offers an intimate, nuanced perspective on four men's fatherhoods and my experience of working with them, which I hope will contribute to more careful characterisations of men in similar situations in Gender and Development literature, and to scholarship on emotions and empathy in research relationships more generally.

History

Copyright Date

2010-01-01

Date of Award

2010-01-01

Publisher

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Rights License

Author Retains Copyright

Degree Discipline

Development Studies

Degree Grantor

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Degree Level

Masters

Degree Name

Master of Development Studies

Victoria University of Wellington Item Type

Awarded Research Masters Thesis

Language

en_NZ

Victoria University of Wellington School

School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences

Advisors

Kindon, Sara