Stories of the “good father”: The role of fatherhood among incarcerated men in Mexico
| DOI | 10.1177/1462474520969822 |
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| Author | Gustavo Fondevila,Carolina Agoff,Sveinung Sandberg |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Stories of the “good
father”: The role of
fatherhood among
incarcerated men
in Mexico
Sveinung Sandberg
University of Oslo (UiO), Norway
Carolina Agoff
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM),
Mexico
Gustavo Fondevila
Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE), Mexico
Abstract
This study examines the role of fatherhood for incarcerated men in Mexico, based on
repeated life-story interviews with twelve men. We distinguish between their descrip-
tions of fatherhood in the past and present and how they imagine the future, and
explore how fathers describe their relationship with their children. The incarcerated
men idealize the past with their children or tell stories of how they have changed from
being “bad” to “good” fathers. They emphasize how they are still able to protect and
educate their children from prison, reflecting widespread values of fatherhood.
They admit that fathering while incarcerated is difficult and hope that things will be
better in the future. In line with previous research on fathers in prison, we argue that
storytelling of being “good fathers” is a way of projecting “normalcy”, using one of the
few gendered resources available, and is an escape from the harsh realities of prison life.
Following insights from narrative criminology and desistance studies, we further
argue that their stories of fatherhood can be a resource for reintegration into society.
Corresponding author:
Sveinung Sandberg, Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo (UiO), P.O. box
6706, St. Olavs plass 5, 0130 Oslo, Norway.
Email: sveinung.sandberg@jus.uio.no
Punishment & Society
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DOI: 10.1177/1462474520969822
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2022, Vol. 24(2) 241–261
Finally, we suggest that inmates’ emphasis on involved fatherhood might reflect diffusing
narratives, ideals, and norms of parenting.
Keywords
fatherhood, fathering, Latin-America, life-story, narrative, prison
Introduction
Francisco (40) was convicted of murder. He lost custody over his only child and
was denied the right to approach or contact him. He remembered the good times
he had had with his son before they were separated, and he dreamed of a happy
reunion with him at some point in the future. Francisco also wanted to start a
family with his new girlfriend. When asked why it was so important to him to be
a father, he responded: “I want to form a family, I have a lot of dreams (...)
The things I did not have as a child, I want to create it with someone who loves
me.” Although Francisco had no contact with his son, fatherhood was still very
important to him. For the incarcerated Mexican fathers in this study, fatherhood
was not related to the everyday practical concerns of parenting, but was nonethe-
less a prevailing topic in their life-stories. Fatherhood was key to how they remem-
bered their past and to who they wanted to be, and featured heavily in their
prospected hopes for the future.
Fatherhood and paternal identities may differ significantly (Collier and Sheldon,
2008; Dermott, 2008),but are of great importance in most societies (LaRossa, 1997).
Although second to the roleof motherhood and maternal identities (Umamaheswar,
2013), they are decisive to the understanding that many men have of themselves and
are crucial to the organization and reproduction of most cultures. Fatherhood is
fragmented, situational and in flux, but there are still historical tendencies and
dominances. In many Western societies, for example, the good provider has been
the ideal of fatherhood, but more recently, this has been challenged by more emo-
tionally involved paternal identities (Lamb, 1987, Pleck, 1987). Fatherhood is closely
connected to masculinity, and in hegemonic masculinity, being a good father is a
crucial part of being a good man (Connell, 1995). In more marginalized forms of
masculinity often associated with incarcerated men, such as protest (Connell, 1995),
oppositional (Messerschmidt, 1994) or street (Mullins, 2006) masculinities, father-
hood has usually been ascribed a less central role.
We study how twelve incarcerated Mexican men talk about their children.
Distinguishing between their past, present and future as fathers, we explore the
role fatherhood plays in their lives and in their life-stories. Our data indicate a
certain discrepancy between the two. Most of the incarcerated fathers had little
daily contact with their children, both while in prison as well as before incarcer-
ation, but they nevertheless spoke of them with great emotional commitment.
242 Punishment & Society 24(2)
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