“Pues a mi me da gusto, porque ando con mis nietos”; Latina Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren Reflect About Identity and the Caregiving Role over the Lifecourse

Abstract

While research exists about grandmothers raising grandchildren, we know much less about the way Latina grandmothers² see their role as grandparents who provide primary care as it relates to their identity throughout the lifecourse.³ According to the US Census of the 6.7 million grandparents raising grandchildren, approximately 17 percent of these grandparents were of Latin origin (Fuller-Thomson and Minkler 2007; Goodman and Rao 2007). By understanding more about how women see this grandmothering role and expectation as a part of their life-course, Latina grandmothers’ views about caregiving can be better understood from their own perspectives. Rodriquez-Galan (2013) has reviewed ethnographies of minority families and found that none included Latino grandmothers as a main focus. She has found that literature suggests that grandmothers hold an “especial” (special) role in communities of color but calls for more sociological studies exploring minority elders’ roles as caregivers and not as perceived care recipients (444). Early research by Park et al. (2004) has suggested: “any discussion of grandparent caregiving practices must acknowledge the considerable influence of cultural preferences in enacting the grandparent role” (122). According to Tarrant (2010) there has been a lack of attention to grandparents across the social sciences resulting in few studies that have explored how the intersection of ethnicity, gender, and age influences the construction of grandmotherhood, spatially or as an everyday lived experience.⁴

Translation of the quote: “Well I am happy, because I’m with my grandchildren.”