Machismo, the male ideal so specific to Hispanic culture, is complemented by its corollary marianismo, the female ideal. Both are examined in this careful study, along with the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that so often accompanies--and, in fact, overhangs--the lives of the women who have survived the abuse that machismo too often inflicts.

Although patriarchy, machismo, and excessive masculine displays are assumed to be prevalent among Latinos in general and Mexicans in particular, little is known about Latino men or macho masculinity. Hombres y Machos: Masculinity and Latino Culture fills an important void by providing an integrated view of Latino men, masculinity, and fatherhood?in the process refuting many common myths and misconceptions.Examining how Latino men view themselves, Alfredo Mirand rgues that prevailing conceptions of men, masculinity, and gender are inadequate because they are based not on universal norms but on limited and culturally specific conceptions. Findings are presented from in-depth personal interviews with Latino men (specifically, fathers with at least one child between the ages of four and eighteen living at home) from four geographical regions and from a broad cross-section of the Latino population: working and middle class, foreign-born and native-born. Topics range from views on machos and machismo to beliefs regarding masculinity and fatherhood. In addition to reporting research findings and placing them within a historical context, Mirand raws important insights from his own life.Hombres y Machos calls for the development of Chicano/Latino men's studies and will be a significant and provocative addition to the growing literature on gender, masculinity, and race. It will appeal to the general reader and is bound to be an important supplementary text for courses in ethnic studies, women's studies, men's studies, family studies, sociology, psychology, social work, and law.

"The fictionalized explorers and conquistadors represented in this corpus all identify with certain aspects of Amerindian culture - significantly, those elements that are most distinct from European culture, such as cannibalism and human sacrifice - but also feel the need to distance themselves from these "others" in order to protect their own European cultural identity. In most cases, the conquistadors themselves are represented as outsiders within the enterprise of imperialism, due to ethnic, religious, or sexual differences from the norm. This representation turns the gaze inward toward the "other" within European culture, underscoring the complex origins of Latin American cultures in the violent encounter between the Amerindians and the conquistadors." "By examining these issues, Lopez's Latin American Novels of the Conquest illuminates the ways in which Latin American novelists used their literary imaginations to embody their ambivalence regarding their own transcultural heritage as children of both the colonized and the colonizer."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

¿Qué se entiende por machismo? ¿Qué características tiene un hombre machista? ¿De dónde procede y qué antecedentes tiene esta conducta? ¿Cómo puede un hombre trascender su propio machismo y lograr una mayor conexión con sus emociones y las de quienes lo rodean? ¿Cómo pueden hombres y mujeres, juntos, construir nuevas y/o diferentes formas de entender y vivir la masculinidad y los roles de género? Estas, y otras preguntas, son abordadas de manera analítica y experiencial por parte del autor, quien nos invita a un interesante recorrido por el tema y los conceptos que rodean al machismo, en una época como la actual, en la que hombres y mujeres estamos llamados a deconstruir viejos roles y patrones de conducta, para abrazar nuevas maneras de relacionarnos.