Borderland Masculinities in Higher Education

Abstract

The Latino male experience in higher education often assumes a heteronormative masculinity framework without critically considering the experiences of gay Latino men as they negotiate heteronormative and heterosexist spaces within the institutional environment. Internalized masculinity constructs that begin within the familial space, and are shaped by cultural tradition and gender norms, are not complicated in the extant literature to consider the ways masculinity is internalized uniquely in the lives of gay Latino men. This dissertation examines the internalized masculinity constructs of six first-generation Mexican American gay undergraduate men to understand the ways that their internalized masculinity expectations shaped their college experiences. Over the course of two calendar years, participants engaged in a series of in-depth reflective interviews and were asked to consider their upbringings, family lives, social influences, and campus environments to understand the ways they have come to understand and embody masculinity within the campus environment. Utilizing Gloria Anzaldúa’s mestiza consciousness and border theory as the method of theoretical consideration and analysis, the study interrogates the six participant experiences to uncover how they navigated masculinity expectations within the campus setting and how they reconciled their gay identity within heteronormative campus spaces.