Overcoming mistrusted masculinity: contesting ethnic minority fathers’ involvement in home–school cooperation in Denmark

This ethnographic study investigates cooperation between homes and schools in a Danish context from the perspective of ‘ethnic minority fathers’. I analyse how experiences of an ‘implicit’ mistrust can make ethnic minority fathers reluctant to cooperate with child institutions such as schools. It is argued that this mistrust is related to a hegemonic negative image of these fathers as oppressive, aggressive, and/or absent and careless. To conceptualize this mistrust, I argue for the concept of ‘mistrusted masculinity’. The analysis directs attention to the rhythms of the fathers’ everyday lives, offering examples of how the absence of some ethnic minority fathers in home–school cooperation may be explained by long working hours and ‘constraining jobs’. The research found that a ‘new role of the father’ is evident in the behaviours and attitudes of both ‘native Danish fathers’ and ethnic minority fathers.