La Familia Es Todo, But Who Cares for Me?: Cancer and Reshaping Latine Families

• In Event: Latina/o Sociology Section Open Call Paper Session

Abstract

When Latina mothers are diagnosed with cancer, the illness reveals fractures within the family unit. A common belief about Latine families, portrayed in media and literature, is that they are unified, supportive, and loving. Through 40 in-depth interviews with Latinas residing in Arizona who are currently or recently receiving cancer treatment, Latinas' experiences contradict these narratives. Familismo as an ideology doesn't fail these women because their families are “bad people”. The ideology fails them because the structure of Latine family life, shaped by gender, migration, documentation status, and cultural scripts, places the labor of care on the very person who is now sick. The expectation that Latina mothers absorb and manage everyone else's emotions means their own fear and pain has nowhere to go. They become invisible as patients who need care because they have only ever been legible as caregivers. Mothers silence themselves to protect their families, both with their extended family in Mexico and their immediate family in the United States. Thus, Latina mothers experience persistent anticipatory labor, including meal prepping, buying clothing that is easy and quick to wear, and appliances for mobility, and planning transportation before beginning treatment. It is women managing their own care crisis alone in advance because they know support is not coming. However, care can also come from women they met through their faith-based practices, within cancer support groups, or transnational families. Yet, the family visiting often manages the household rather than provides emotional support. Latina mothers are silencing themselves, managing their own care, and experiencing invisibility within their own households. Understanding Latine family life requires scholars to critically examine familismo and the structures that uphold it - structures that render Latina mothers invisible, even and especially when they are most in need of care.

Author

• Daniela Carreon, Arizona State University-Tempe