Three-Block Fathers: Spatial Perceptions and Kin-Work in Low-Income African American Neighborhoods

Abstract

Few studies offer a contextual examination of how fathers experience and perceive local environments, and develop subsequent strategies to enhance paternal involvement. In this qualitative analysis of participant observation and life history interview data on 40 low-income African American fathers in Chicago's South Side, I consider how risky physical and social spaces situate low-income fathers' participation in kin-work systems. I observe ecological processes—including gang activity, police presence, and poverty—that shape men's daily routines in local neighborhoods. Further, I examine how, based upon their perceptions of these processes, fathers delineate dangerous spaces and grow increasingly wary of certain social relationships. Finally, I observe that fathers develop kin-work strategies to secure paternal involvement, which include constructing “three-block” safe spaces for family interaction, relying on paternal kin, making use of neutral spaces, and managing complex negotiations with their children's mothers and maternal kin.