Monographs, reports, and public policy studies regarding the current status of Latino families have proliferated in the last two decades. Common also have been the pulpit prescriptions by religious and political leaders regarding the disintegration of Latino family life. David Abalos’ book is a fresh attempt to bring together these two currents of writing about Latinos and their families. His book is, above all, a prescription for the political and personal empowerment of Latinos and Latinas through the family. The mechanism for achieving this empowerment is the theory of transformation, which serves as the author’s theoretical anchor.
The book is divided into five chapters. In the first chapter, Abalos introduces the main tenets of transformation theory, originally conceived by Manfred Halpern. Abalos discusses the terminology—emanation, incoherence, subjection, and archetypal analysis, for example—which he then uses to diagnose the problems and potential of the Latino family. Chapter 2 concentrates on the author’s definition of political as that which transforms and shapes our quotidian environment in both personal and public terms (p. 45). Abalos considers the family a unique institution for its capacity to influence both the personal and the public; hence the book’s focus on the transformative potential of the Latino family.
The third chapter takes up composite case studies exemplifying the different archetypal relationships in which Latino families traditionally participate. Chapter 4 discusses the problems affecting Latino families, particularly those that result from powerlessness, machismo, and poverty. The final chapter uses two case studies—one real, one “reel” (from the Cuban film Lucia, 1968)—to show the potential of transformation theory to build new, truly loving relationships between Latinos.
Abalos’ book has several shortcomings. First, the reader gets no clear idea why the author selected transformation theory for his analysis. There is no discussion of alternate theoretical paradigms in political science or religious studies that might apply equally well to the problems of Latino families. In the same vein, the author could have provided wider exposure to the theoretical tools available in the field of family studies. Second, although the family’s central status as a web for the personal and the public is made clear, the reader receives no distinctive characterization of Latino families. The random traits the author lists do not seem to differentiate Latino families from any other types of families in the United States. Is the theory of transformation a mechanism for the empowerment of families in general? Then why focus on the Latino family? Finally, the lack of a concluding chapter in which to discuss the broader implications of theory and praxis (given the theory of transformation) leaves the reader wondering about the purpose of the exercise.
These observations notwithstanding, Abalos must be praised for not merely presenting the many problems affecting Latino families but outlining a model for change and improvement. His emphasis on the indivisible nature of individual and public empowerment—combining the political, historical, sacred, and personal—is an important contribution to a field with a tendency toward fragmentary analysis. If Abalos’ strict adherence to the theory of transformation might frustrate some readers, the potential for real empowerment that emerges from the book will be applauded by those who wish a more direct connection between academic work and community improvement.
