Temporary and transnational: gender and emotion in the lives of Mexican guest worker fathers

Abstract

In this article I use the US H2A guest worker programme as a lens through which to analyse the gender subjectivities of Mexican transnational fathers. My qualitative findings highlight the ways in which the prioritization of productive over reproductive labour within the H2A programme exploits gender-based expectations within Mexican families, reproducing rigid gender divisions of family labour. Additionally, the subjectivities of guest worker fathers are influenced by cultural expectations as well as by the rurality and cyclicality of their lives. As fathers shift between the USA and Mexico, so do their gender subjectivities, symbolizing gender's fluidity. Findings complicate the oft-cited conclusion that emotional labour and sacrifice are the exclusive domain of transnational mothers.

Keywords:

• transnational fatherhood
• guest workers
• Mexican migration
• gender
• transnational families
• emotion

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leah Schmalzbauer

LEAH SCHMALZBAUER is Associate Professor at Montana State University.