Paternity Tests: Fatherhood on Trial in Mexico's Revolution of the Family

Abstract

This article analyzes the politicization of fatherhood in revolutionary Mexico City's process of social reform and institution building between 1910 and 1940. Based on evidence culled from juvenile court case histories, criminal trial transcripts, and letter-writing campaigns, it concludes that reformist and popular ideas about fatherhood were highly contested in this era of social change, legal reform, and state formation. By examining the competing visions of fatherhood that reformers, women, and fathers themselves promoted, it shows that ideas about appropriate parental roles in Mexico were linked to revolutionary conceptualizations of progress, social mobility, and political participation.