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Crossing the Andes, Ep. 05 - My Mother-in-Law Stayed at Home

Crossing the Andes, Ep. 05 - My Mother-in-Law Stayed at Home

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Stef Biemans looks at the role of the mother-in-law. Because Latinos tend to talk about them rather a lot.

Biemans doesn’t like mother-in-law jokes much. But usually he just laughs along, because there’s no escaping this popular genre. In Latin America, folk tales, songs, novels and soap operas are not complete without a distrustful mother-in-law. Why is that, he wonders? And has the role of the mother-in-law changed, now the economy is booming and whole families don’t have to live under one roof anymore? Or are mother-in-laws still as picky and meddlesome as Latino men would have us believe? Maybe they have good reason to be so, because men aren’t always gentle with their women.

Series Description

The Andes – in all their diversity – are the spine of South America. We traverse six countries, focusing on work, economy, health, and migration, to find out how South America is doing and which changes are taking place in the continent some call an investors paradise, while others say is still a mess…

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