Fathers, Fathering, and Fatherhood, 1st ed. 2021 Queer Chicano/Mexicano Desire and Belonging Palgrave Studies in Literary Anthropology Series

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.

Chapter 1: Introduction: Queer Chicano/Mexicano Accounts of Fathers, Fathering, and Fatherhood, Adelaida R. Del Castillo and Gibrán Güido.- Part 1: “Can I write about my father?”: Representations of the Presence of Being.- Chapter 2: Sky Maps, Daniel Vidal Soto.- Chapter 3: Journal 2, Daniel Vidal Soto.- Chapter 4: January Spirals, Daniel Vidal Soto.- Chapter 5: Unwriting the Father, R. Allen Baros.- Chapter 6: Overall Prince, Now Father Lauren, Cuauhtémoc Peranda.- Part 2  Fathers, Father Figures, and the Family.- Chapter 7: Tommy Paved the Way, Robert Jude Frausto.- Chapter 8: Todo sobre mi madre/All about My Mother, Carlos Manuel.- Chapter 9: Tito – A Remembrance of My Father, Larry T. Baza.- Chapter 10: Deddy, José H. Cadena.- Chapter 11: My TwoSons, Gustavo V. Segade.- Chapter 12: Punched in the Stomach, Marcus Fisher.- Part 3   Fatherhood, Queer Consciousness, and Neurodiversity.- Chapter 13: ¿Cómo estás, mi niño? (How Are You, My Boy?): Memories of Father and Fatherhood – Mental Illness, Enforced Masculinity, and Loss, Eddy F. Álvarez Jr..- Chapter 14: My Dead Father, Miguel Garcia Jr..- Chapter 15: Alchemistas (Alchemists), Christian Emmañuel.- Chapter 16: Coming Home to Myself, Luis A. Chavez Rodriguez.- Chapter 17: The Best, Fredy Caballero.- Part 4  Desire, Daddy Issues, and Taboos.- Chapter 18: Border Crossings, Omar O. González.- Chapter 19: How to Compromise Your Self, Daniel Vidal Soto.- Chapter 20: A Performance Recovery: Cruising Fathered Memories Through Dependency Circuits, Joe E. Martinez.- Chapter 21: “Make Me Your Toxic Son, Daddy”: The Bio-Familial Bonds Created by Gay Men Vis-à-vis “Bug Chasing” and “Gift Giving, Omar O. González.- Part 5  Situating Spent and Shifting Fatherhoods.- Chapter 22: Our Shimmering and Ephemeral DNA, Gibrán Güido.- Chapter 23: Querido Padre: Things I Want to Tell You and Other Thoughts, Adán Campos.- Chapter 24: No Last Name, Yosimar Reyes.- Chapter 25: Communion, Jesus Daniel Mendez Carbajal.- Chapter 26: Chrysalis, Jesus Daniel Mendez Carbajal.- Part 6   Fatherhood Patterns and Passionate Fathering.- Chapter 27; Like Father, Like Queer Son?: Gay Chicanx and Latinx Males and Their Fathers, Daniel Enrique Pérez.- Chapter 28: My Padrino, Xuan Carlos Espinoza-Cuellar.- Chapter 29: God is Never Ashamed of Us, Xuan Carlos Espinoza-Cuellar.- Chapter 30:You Will Love, Xuan Carlos Espinoza-Cuellar.

Adelaida R. Del Castillo is Associate Professor and former Chair of the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at San Diego State University, USA. She has published on sex/gender meaning and economic survival strategies in Mexico City and is co-editor of Queer in Aztlán: Chicano Male Recollections of Consciousness and Coming Out (Lambda Literary Awards Finalist). 

This work speaks to a visibly growing sector of gay men among a predominantly young Latino national group (its majority being Chicano/Mexicano) in need of a literature sensitive to different discourses of culture, cultural citizenship, and sexuality as queer Chicanos/Mexicanos examine their lived experience with fathers, fathering, and fatherhood Builds on growing interest on the topic of gay men and father/son relationships Written mostly through the voices of queer Chicano/Mexicano sons