Good Boys, Bad Hombres
The Racial Politics of Mentoring Latino Boys in Schools
Good Boys, Bad Hombres examines the politics of empowerment and inclusion as aspects of youth control in schools. Showing how the promotion of an aspirational form of Latino masculinity is rooted in neoliberal multiculturalism, heteropatriarchy, and anti-Blackness, Michael V. Singh argues that new narratives and practices are necessary to reimagine Latino manhood in schools and beyond.
In this field-defining ethnography, Michael V. Singh presents a groundbreaking exploration of the complexities of race, masculinity, discipline, and neoliberalism in urban education, challenging conventional notions of mentorship and Latino boyhood. Through meticulous research, Good Boys, Bad Hombres reveals the nuanced ways in which empowerment strategies intertwine with racial and gender dynamics, offering a critical perspective on the reconfiguration of Latino manhood in contemporary society.
Victor M. Ríos, University of California, Santa Barbara
Educational research has long documented the politics of punishment for boys and young men of color in schools—but what about the politics of empowerment and inclusion? In Good Boys, Bad Hombres, Michael V. Singh focuses on this aspect of youth control in schools, asking on whose terms a positive Latino manhood is envisioned.
Based on two years of ethnographic research in an urban school district in California, Good Boys, Bad Hombres examines Latino Male Success, a school-based mentorship program for Latino boys. Instead of attempting to shape these boys’ lives through the threat of punishment, the program aims to provide an “invitation to a respectable and productive masculinity” rooted in traditional Latinx signifiers of manhood. Singh argues, however, that the promotion of this aspirational form of Latino masculinity is based in neoliberal multiculturalism, heteropatriarchy, and anti-Blackness, and that even such empowerment programs can unintentionally reproduce attitudes that paint Latino boys as problematic and in need of control and containment.
An insightful gender analysis, Good Boys, Bad Hombres sheds light on how mentorship is a reaction to the alleged crisis of Latino boys and is governed by the perceived remedies of the neoliberal state. Documenting the ways Latino men and boys resist the politics of neoliberal empowerment for new visions of justice, Singh works to deconstruct male empowerment, arguing that new narratives and practices—beyond patriarchal redemption—are necessary to reimagine Latino manhood in schools and beyond.
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In this field-defining ethnography, Michael V. Singh presents a groundbreaking exploration of the complexities of race, masculinity, discipline, and neoliberalism in urban education, challenging conventional notions of mentorship and Latino boyhood. Through meticulous research, Good Boys, Bad Hombres reveals the nuanced ways in which empowerment strategies intertwine with racial and gender dynamics, offering a critical perspective on the reconfiguration of Latino manhood in contemporary society.
Victor M. Ríos, University of California, Santa Barbara
What a gift! Compelling and timely, Good Boys, Bad Hombres provides a rich theoretical analysis of how racial neoliberalism, patriarchy, and antiquated notions of manhood shape educational narratives about Latino boys. This groundbreaking work has consequential implications for theorizing race, ethnicity, education, and youth work practice inside and outside schools. Offering a powerful and necessary critique of the racial politics that inform mentorship programs, Michael V. Singh provides a path forward to center love and dignity in educational spaces for Latino boys.
Bianca J. Baldridge, Harvard University
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