Securing Fatherhood Through Kin Work

Abstract

In this paper, we examine how low income black men in South Africa and the US work with their kin to secure fathering and ensure the well-being of children. We use ethnographic and life history data on men who fathered children from 1992-2005 to demonstrate how fathers' roles as kin workers enable them to meet culturally-defined criteria for responsible fatherhood in two contexts marked by legacies of racism, increasing rates of incarceration and HIV/AIDS, and a web of interlocking inequalities that effectively precludes them from accessing employment with good wages. Using a comparative framework based on kin work, we identify three common processes in both contexts - negotiation between maternal and paternal kin, pedifocal approach and flexible fathering - that enable men and their kin networks to secure father involvement in economically marginalized communities. We conclude with a discussion of the policy implications of our findings.