Becoming a Better Father and Husband: Migrant Father/Son Leadership Retreats as Sites of Reorganization

• In Event: 35.077 - MTCC Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 35.077-3 - These Are the Breaks: Ruptures in Coloniality in Educational Leadership

Abstract

One of the most critical pathways that Latino (im)migrant farmworker parents are expected to traverse along with their children is that of school. No longer relegated primarily to the southwest, the last decade has seen significant Latino population increases across the nation accounting for almost 1 out of every 4 kids of school age (Passel, Cohn, and Lopez, 2011). The prolonged economic turmoil following the Great Recession, followed by the election of “45” has led to anti-immigrant scapegoating and a resurgence of racist laws and propositions in states like Arizona, Georgia, and South Carolina targeting immigrant families and their visible participation in civic society. As a response, community based and immigrant rights organizations like the Education Leadership Foundation (ELF) have responded by organizing parent leadership retreats as sites of resistance (Nava & Lara, 2016).

In this research paper I present Latino Father/Son leadership retreats as sites of praxis where the civic and leadership capacity of (im)migrant parents is developed. First, I provide an overview of the local contexts,labor and and legal conditions of (im)migrant farmworkers. The inability of local school communities to respond to the needs of students and farm working families create pressing problems of leadership practice. Second, I provide an overview of how Father/Son leadership retreats evolved out of the poor attendance of fathers in co-ed retreats out of a misperception that they were feminine spaces. Instead, Father/Son retreats created an opportunity for critical introspection, allowing fathers to explore how patriarchy and social class have disempowered many fathers in conversing with their children around important school and social matters. These retreats have served as culturally responsive out of school safe spaces designed for Latino fathers and their sons to identify and analyze social and familial problems collectively. Furthermore, these retreats encourage deep and meaningful dialogue between Fathers/Sons, building agency and understanding power, and leading them to jointly commit to undertake meaningful actions in their homes and communities. And, third I explore possible ways in which school leaders can build on and support these existing efforts by 1) learning of ways in which families already support their children’s educational needs (Lopez, 2001), 2) leveraging the leadership capacities of Fathers/Sons in educational spaces 3) engaging families, especially fathers on issues that are of most pressing concern to them.

The analysis of the data in this study is derived from participant observations, in depth interviews and focus group data. Findings suggest that creating these gender-specific spaces can play an important role in strengthening relationships between (im)migrant farmworking fathers and their sons. These Father/Son retreats in turn, can provide a valuable space to examine the leadership roles from below that they can undertake in their own schools and communities upon their return home.

Author

• Pedro E. Nava, Mills College