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Cycle 3: Machismo and Gender Politics on the Border
Cycle 3: Machismo and Gender Politics on the Border
J. Abels
J. Abels
To best understand power dynamics and politics on the Mexico-Texas border, students will examine the role of gender and the effects of a stagnant traditional view of masculinity. Through looking at the ways in which Paredes writes male characters, the significance of honor in manhood and more modern works on how the community is impacted by this rigidity; students will be able to formulate a research question to take their new knowledge into the world around them.
Student Learning Goals and Objectives
Student Learning Goals and Objectives
By the end of this cycle, students will be able to:
Understand the connection between masculinity and honor in Mexican-American culture
Identify possible reasons for machismo in border towns
Consider the significance of cultural identity and sense of belonging
Explain the effects of machismo in modern society
Analyze how power dynamics/lack of power creates cycles of violence disguised as “duty”
Content Warning
Content Warning
The following cycle contains sensitive topics such as femicide, violence towards women and assault. Check in with students throughout the unit to make sure that they are prioritizing their mental health.
Cycle Readings
Cycle Readings
Americo Paredes Foundational Texts
Americo Paredes Foundational Texts
The Hammon and the Beans
Ichiro Kikuchi
Macaria's Daughter
George Washington Gomez
Conversation between two men – Chapter 3 (pg. 20)
Sediciosos fight – Chapter 4
Death of Filomeno – Chapter 5
Guálinto and the shortening – Chapter 6
New neighbors – Chapter 7
Feliciano and De la Vega – Chapter 9
The United States, Mexico, and "Machismo"
Additional Works
Additional Works
Marianismo by Joseph Edwards
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros – Sally Collection
“Sally”
“Beautiful and Cruel”
“What Sally Said”
“The Monkey Garden”
“Linoleum Roses”
Machismo From the Perspective of a Women by Janessa Baza-Lazalde
https://www.storiesuntoldus.com/blog/latin-machismo
Machismo hurts men too | Alejandro Jimenez | TEDxMileHigh
Weekly Journal
Weekly Journal
Weekly journal: In their journals or on google docs, students will write weekly journals about their thoughts, opinions and ideas relating to the intense subjects covered. In order to promote Social Emotional Learning, this act of self-reflection will help students process their feelings and connections to ideas of gender roles, colonization, unbalance of power and control. Especially considering that these are 11th graders, giving them time to work out how these ideas play out in their lives will center the topics in reality and normalize the intensity of border politics.
Cycle 3 Reflection Questions:
What was something that stood out to you this week from the material covered? Why?
How did this week make you feel? How have you prioritized your mental health this week?
Was there anything you disagreed with from the texts? Why?
Which work was your favorite?
What opinions or ideas have changed in relation to the border and/or gender roles?
How do you see these ideas playing out in our community? In our country/state? What have you noticed about gender roles in your culture?
Close Reading Worksheets + Jigsaw
Close Reading Worksheets + Jigsaw
In order to continue the practice of slow, intentional reading as built upon in the previous cycles, students will fill out close reading worksheets over short stories/chapters. The sections for this cycle help students focus their attention towards how machismo is intertwined with the text and connections to their lives and other works.
These close readings will then lead into the Jigsaw activity, which helps students practice presenting and active listening skills. For example, if the focus is on George Washington Gomez, each table group may be assigned one chapter. Then, after students finish filling out their portion of the jigsaw, students will divide up and form groups with one "expert" from each table. Students will then each present their story/chapter and give information so students can fill out that portion of the jigsaw. As each chapter is added piece by piece, the students will gain a full understanding of the collection without having to necessarily read them all.
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
In order to foster an environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and contributing to on-going conversations, certain works from the course texts will be selected for group discussions. Scaffolded questions will help lead students to thinking about how works connect to overarching themes of power, gender and honor.
The questions below are suggestions for creating conversation between students and connections to their lives.
Final Project: Research Presentation
Final Project: Research Presentation
To finish off this unit on machismo and gender on the border, students will be creating a presentation on a subject of their choice relating to perceptions of gender roles and conducting research in the community. This will give students the opportunity to connect their learning to their future career paths, personal interests and local community.
Subjects could include: How are women in law perceived vs men? How do different generations think about gender roles? How do men aged 60+ define masculinity? What does honor mean to men and women? How does religion impact views on gender roles?
The final project will be broken down into three steps: preliminary research, data collection, and a presentation. The presentations will be created based on the students choice of a video series, podcast episodes or a traditional essay to create more accessibility and flexibility for students. These presentations must contain their research question, hypothesis, background research, evidence from their interviews, and some sort of final application. This will help bring everything they have learned in literature into our world while fostering community connections, careful consideration of gender roles and machismo’s modern relevance in our society.
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