Male Honor and the Ruralization of HIV/Aids in Michoacán. A Case of Indigenous Return Migration in Mexico

Bibliographic Data

ID9952898
AuthorsDaniel Hernández-Rosete (0000-0003-4030-2663, Instituto de Estudios Avanzados, corresponding author), Daniel Hernández Rosete
Year2010
Volume50
Issue5
Pages142-152
Publication date2010-09-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Migration (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7985 • E-ISSN: 1468-2435
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-2435.2010.00642.x
OpenAlexW2129914131
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited20

The purpose of this text is to analyse the motives of seasonal migrant workers for attempting to get their wives pregnant when they return to Mexico. The meanings attributed to paternity, pregnancy and rearing are analysed from the perspective of the migrant worker and his wife. Ethnographic research was conducted in several Purépecha communities in Michoacán, supported by interviews with indigenous, who travelled to the United States for periods of up to three years, and with their wives, who stayed in Mexico. The migrant workers interviewed consider pregnancy and the paternity derived from it as an important means of male legitimization and sexual control of their wives, particularly valid in their rural communities of origin, where they know they are absentee males. When they return to Mexico they seek sexual relations for reproductive purposes, since they fear their wives will have extramarital relations in their absence. From these findings, it was considered necessary to implement sexual and reproductive health policies with pluri‐ethnic and gender approaches that take into account male beliefs and practices regarding paternity and pregnancy in a rural context. The development of sensitizing policies aimed at migrant males during their stays in Mexico is recommended

Context (archaeology · Ethnic group · Ethnography · Geography · Honor · Indigenous · Population · Pregnancy · Reproductive health · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Anthropology · Demography · Ecology · Gender Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Health, Geopolitics, Historical Geography · Sex work and related issues