Fatherhood After Divorce: Discourses about Nurture, Education and Worries
Keywords:
fatherhood, seperation, discourse analysis, positioning theoryAbstract
Fatherhood after divorce has been studied very little in Finland, even though divorces have become common over the decades. This article looks at how fathers make sense of their fatherhood through their language. Specifically, the study examines the image of fatherhood produced by divorced fathers. More precisely, the research aims to answer what kinds of discourses divorced men produce in their paternity speech and what kinds of positions are constructed in their speech. The data consists of 21 interviews with fathers who have divorced the mothers of their children. The interviews were analyzed applying discourse analysis and positioning theory. The data has collected in cooperation with the Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters.
The fathers' narration was divided into three ways of speaking in relation to their fatherhood, and each way of speaking contained three positions: nurturing speech (tender caregiver, provider of safety, co-player), educational speech (ruler and role model, interlocutor and encourager, teacher) and worried speech (worrier, mourner, misunderstood). In their speech, the divorced fathers built an image of virtuous and morally responsible fatherhood, which is completed piece by piece, based on caring and warm, reciprocal interaction with the child.
Through their narration, fathers include themselves into such cultural and engaged image of fatherhood. This reveals the vulnerability and complexity of fatherhood, which has rarely been highlighted in studies: the speech of divorced fathers contains many kinds of concern, sadness and fear. In their speech, the fathers of the study confirmed the perception of the father's importance after the divorce.
