550 - Author Meets Critics Session. Doing the Best I Can: Fatherhood in the Inner City (University of California, 2013) by Kathryn Edin and Timothy J. Nelson

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

Doing the Best I Can is a qualitative study of 100 fathers living in Camden, NJ and Philadelphia, PA who are mostly non-residential fathers.. The book shows that children emerged from intimate relationships from couples who often “barely know each other” and hence were fragile. The men wanted to be good fathers; many aggressively sought to build relationships with their children (i.e., independent of the child’s mother). The authors trace a context of persistent poverty, reduced employment and infrastructure, and violence. Within this context, the father saw the birth of the child as an opportunity for a fresh start. Mike Messner is a noted gender scholar who has written on masculinity; Timothy Black is the author of the ethnography When a Heart Turns Rock Solid ; this award-winning book traces the lives of three Puerto Rican brothers over thirteen years. Jennifer Reich’s is the author of Fixing Families; this thoughtful work uses ethnographic data to examine the role of the state in taking children out of the home.

Sub Unit

• Author Meets Critics

Session Organizer

• Annette Lareau, University of Pennsylvania

Authors

• Kathryn J. Edin, Harvard University

• Timothy J. Nelson, Harvard University

Presider

• Frank F. Furstenberg, University of Pennsylvania

Critics

• Timothy S. Black, Case Western Reserve University

• Michael A. Messner, University of Southern California

• Jennifer A. Reich, University of Colorado-Denver