Anthropological Notebooks, XXII/1, 2016
Inhorn, Marcia C., Wendy Chavkin and José-Alberto Navarro (eds.). 2014. Globalized Fatherhood. new York, oxford: Berghahn Books. 419 pp. Hb.: $120.00/£75.00. ISBN: 9781782384373.
This intriguing collection of essays on the way men from different geographical settings and cultural contexts engage in fatherhood is intended to fill a gap in social science literature, where women have overwhelmingly been the focus of attention. Regarding parenthood, tendentially research has dealt with women as mothers and caretakers, somehow eclipsing fathers out of the picture. Whenever fathers have been studied, they have mostly been white and middle-class, part of conventional Western nuclear families.
This volume is intended to address this omission by taking as its main subject men as fathers, exploring the principles that inspire their fatherhood; their intimate wishes and concerns, as well as the practices and attitudes that shape their way of relating to their children. The reader delves into different situations and contexts, each portraying different notions of fathering, as well as strong values that impinge and mould fathers' actions or determine their inaction, showing how strong cultural diktats may impede men's full realisation as fathers, giving rise to internal struggles and painful frustrations when prospective fatherhood does not turn into reality. One of the book's recurrent themes is the thoughtfulness and careful considerations fathers and potential fathers voice, anticipating future crisis or working to minimise impending problems, shedding light on the willingness to fulfil the parental role with an array of stratagems and considerable planning. Equally recurring is fathers' flexibility and willingness to bend strong cultural notions of gender, and adapt to ever-changing economic and social landscapes. A number of contributions consider the intersection of fatherhood with masculinity and men-as-fathers' response to life-altering events such as infertility, illness, migration, and war. The use of reproductive technologies and its consequences on the self-perceptions of prospective fathers is well represented. What the material provided shows is a diverse picture of emergent masculinities that include enactments and embodiments of fatherhood in a context of continuous and profound change, affecting both the social world and the family structure. Together with heteronormative, conventional family formations, the book portrays emerging forms of family constituted by gay couples, shedding light on both biological and social fatherhood and on the reasons why, for some, one eclipses the other. The book gives visibility to an otherwise silenced cohort of men in their role as fathers in locations as varied as Asia (Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, China), the Middle East (Gaza, Iran), South America (Peru, Mexico) and Africa (Nigeria) in addition to Europe (Spain, Turkey, the U.K.), the U.S. and Australia. It is divided into eights parts with different sub-themes, each containing two chapters; the authors are social scientists engaging in interdisciplinary fields, ranging from medicine and public health to demography and social policy.
As the useful and valuable Introduction, by Inhorn, Chavkin, and Navarro, points out, the book offers a variety of tropes and a new vocabulary to theorise fatherhood, conveniently summarised in a Table (pp. 8-11) highlighting the key themes. These undoubtedly offer valuable tools to approach not only fatherhood but also gender and
124
Book reviews
kinship more broadly, enriching and deepening its gaze on the family in the rapidly evolving, global and transnational social landscapes of the 21st century.
The section on Corporate Fatherhood considers the attitude to parental leave policy in European (Browne) and Japanese (North) corporate work, showing how corporate constraints inhibit parental involvement, despite some changes in fathers' approaches to fatherhood.
In the section on Transnational Fatherhood, Leinaweaver highlights the concept of father-as-provider and compares and contrasts the Spanish adoptive fathers of Peruvian children with Peruvian migrant fathers, forced by circumstance to leave their children behind and exercise their fatherly duties from afar. Lam and Yeoh deal with long-distance mothering and the figure of left-behind fathers in Indonesia and the Philippines, illustrating new forms of the construction of intimacy between dispersed family members.
In the section on Primary Care Fatherhood, Thao shows the implications of female labour migration for stay-at-home fathers and their struggle to adapt to changing gender roles in Vietnam. The chapter by Birenbaum-Carmeli, Diamand, and Yaman presents the challenges faced by Palestinian fathers from Gaza, forced to cross the border to accompany their sick children to Israeli oncology hospitals for long-term treatment. These fathers transcend traditional gender roles and effectively provide constant care for their children, despite their difficult circumstances.
The section on Clinical Fatherhood includes Wentzell's chapter on Mexican men and their willingness to enact "progressive" masculinity and "modern" fatherhood by embracing a holistic vision of health following their participation in a study of HPV transmission. Kahn and Chavkin's chapter addresses the enduring primacy attributed to the male gamete in their consideration of sperm marketing in the U.S. and the legislation on third-party sperm use elsewhere.
The section on Infertile Fatherhood shows, through Gurtin's chapter, the centrality of procreation as a crucial life goal for Turkish families, illustrating infertile couples' engagement with ART processes, and the strict prohibition on donor sperm use. Inhorn's contribution demonstrates the incidence of male infertility amongst Arab men and their willingness to engage in multiple costly reproductive technology practices abroad, highlighting emergent masculinities that contemplate both conjugal and fatherly love.
In the section on Gay/Surrogate Fatherhood, Dempsey considers the use of commercial surrogacy by Australian gay men, and how their concerns over their children's future inform their selection of oocyte donors and surrogates, and their post-birth relationships with them. Rudrappa describes U.S. and Australian gay men's involvement with commercial surrogacy in India and its implications, considering that surrogate mothers are inaccessible due to local legislation. Parenting is accomplished through the careful and systematic building of "caring communities" for the benefit of the children.
The section on Ambivalent Fatherhood includes Smith's material on Igbo-speaking Nigerian fathers and the complex and contradictory pressures they endure through contrasting values of masculinity and of fatherhood. Tremayne's chapter offers a glimpse of Iranian fathers and their traditional patriarchal, controlling, authoritarian
125
Anthropological Notebooks, XXII/1, 2016
role, which remains largely incontestable given the danger of losing face, with severe social implications. Often paternal authority justifies psychological and physical violence towards disobedient children.
In the final section, Imperiled Fatherhood, Greenhalgh elucidates the social and personal risks faced by Chinese bachelors, victims of the one-child policy social engineering. Doubly stigmatised for being single and rural, they are considered a burden that impedes the nation's modernisation. Finally, Kilshaw's chapter is devoted to U.K. veterans suffering from Gulf War Syndrome and their painful feeling of being damaged and toxic, that extends to their experience of both masculinity and fatherhood, powerfully impacting family life.
This engaging and comprehensive collection will be appreciated not only by kinship, gender and family studies scholars but also by anyone interested in contemporary ethnographic anthropology.
GIOVANNA BACCHIDDU
Pontificia Universidad Católica and ICIIS (Chile)
126