Performing Masculinities: Latino Male Teachers, Gender Reproduction, and Disidentification Practices

• In Event: Teacher Identity: Reflections on Culture, Gender, Training, and Practice

Abstract

This study looks at the ways Latino male identified teachers make use of their bodies to disrupt or reproduce hegemonic understandings of Latino masculinity. Drawing from existing literature on social reproduction and education, this research highlights the ways in which schooling reproduces not just class relationships, but also dominant notions of race, gender, and sexuality. Through an ethnography of a middle school Latino boy after-school program, I explore Latino teacher gender performance and the way body and movement serve as a pedagogical tool in the classroom. By blending theories of social reproduction with performance theories, this project posits educators as performers (and disciplinarians) of multifaceted subjectivities, paying close attention to the ways educators hail their students and perform/normalize identities.

Author

• Michael Singh, University of California - Berkeley