Professor of Hispanic Studies Bryan Pearce-Gonzales, Ph.D., recently published his first book, “Societal Constructions of Masculinity in Chicanx and Mexican Literature: From Machismo to Feminist Masculinity.”
The book is an ethnographic approach to the question “What does it mean to be a man?” and focuses on stories that authors tell about how Chicanx and Mexican society dictate what masculinity is and/or is not. It examines what it signifies to be a Mexican male, explains how fatherhood has been represented in Chicanx literature, and considers masculine relationships more broadly.
Masculinity Studies is among the newer fields of Cultural Studies and is providing a lot of really cool ideas regarding how we, as humans, are socialized to understand and adopt/reject certain identities, whether they be cultural, racial, sexual, or otherwise,” Pearce-Gonzales said. “I find it compelling to offer a perspective on what messages Chicanx and Mexican societies are promoting to their citizens regarding what men ought to be.”
Bryan Pearce-Gonzales, Ph.D.
Pearce-Gonzales, who is also the chair of the Department of Languages and Cultural Studies, called the book a labor of love, one that took five years and involved learning on the fly.
“A huge amount of credit should also go to my co-editor, Kathryn Quinn-Sánchez, a professor at Georgian Court University, for her mentorship and all that she taught me in this process,” he said.
The book can be purchased at Vernon Press or on Amazon.
Pearce-Gonzales received his M.A. and his Ph.D. in hispanic studies from the University of Kentucky. He is a specialist in 20th Century Latin American literature with an emphasis on Chicanx literature and culture and has recently published critical essays on Chicanx autobiography and fiction.
