Alfredo Mirandé facts for kids

Alfredo Mirandé is a Mexican American sociologist and lawyer. He focuses on topics like ethnic studies (which is about different cultural groups), gender (how people understand being male, female, or other identities), and law. He is well-known for his idea called "gringo justice." This theory looks at how the justice system might treat Mexican Americans differently.

Mirandé is a respected professor of Sociology and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He has received important awards, including being a National Research Council Fellow and a Rockefeller Fellow. He was also honored by Illinois State University.

He is especially recognized for helping to create a new way of studying Mexican Americans, called Chicano sociology. This approach looks at things from a Chicano point of view, not just from an Anglo (or non-Mexican American) perspective. He challenged the idea that problems faced by Mexican Americans were caused by their own culture or family life.

Mirandé earned his first degree in social science from Illinois State University. He then got his master's and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Nebraska. Later, he earned his law degree (J.D.) from Stanford Law School. Before joining the University of California, Riverside, he taught at the Texas Tech University School of Law.

Exploring Gender and Culture

His book Behind the Mask: Gender Hybridity in Zapotec Community (published in 2017) was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award. This book explores different ways people understand gender in a specific community in Mexico.

The book challenges the idea that Mexico is a place only of machismo (a stereotype about men being overly strong or dominant). It does this by looking at the muxe in Juchitán de Zaragoza. A muxe is a person who is assigned male at birth but takes on roles and identities traditionally associated with women in Zapotec culture.

Mirandé showed that in Juchitán, muxes are often more accepted than mayates. A mayate is a man who forms a relationship with a muxe. The book explains that mayates sometimes face more challenges because of their relationships.

He also discussed how people identify themselves. For example, he looked at how identifying as "gay" might be linked to middle- or upper-class areas. In contrast, identifying as muxe is often connected to neighborhoods that have kept strong ties to Zapotec culture. These communities often prefer their traditional ways over trying to fit into Western culture.

Personal life

Alfredo Mirandé was born in Mexico City. He grew up in Chicago.