Beyond the Box: Latino Male Millennials Moving in and out of Racial Identities

• In Event: 77.057 - MTCC Roundtable Session 35
  In Roundtable Session: 77.057-2 - Intersectional Identities of Latino Males: Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Youth Organizing

Abstract

This paper explicates the racial and ethnic identities of Latino/a youth by focusing on how Latino male millennials define themselves. I focus on Latino male millennials for several reasons. First, the Latino/a population has reached a record of nearly 58 million or 17.8% of the total U.S. population (Alonzo, 2017), the second largest and youngest racial/ethnic group. About a third of the nation’s Latina/o population is younger than 18 years of age and about a quarter of all Latinas/os are Millennials – born roughly between 1980 and 1995 (Patten, 2016). Latina/o millennials constitute one-fifth and the second largest segment of the millennial population (Patten, 2016). Given the sheer magnitude of Latino/a millennials, they are posed to have significant social, economic, and political impact on the U.S. society (Eisenach, 2016). Second, Latino male students continue to face obstacles that inhibit academic achievement (Halx & Ortiz, 2011; Noguera, Hurtado & Fergus, 2011; Torres & Fergus, 2011).

Grounded in the sociological theories on race and ethnicity, this exploratory study examines the the racial and ethnic identities of Latino males that participated in the Black and Latino Male School Intervention Study (BLMSIS). The study’s research questions are: 1) What are the patterns of racial self-identifications of young Latino males attending predominantly Black single-gender schools and 2) how do young Latino males understand their racial and ethnic identities?

This mixed-methods study included interviews (N=4) and survey data (N=127) derived from BLMSIS, a study assessing the social and academic merits of single-gender schools for boys of color. Survey data included: a fixed-choice option with traditional race categories; a question about whether the student identified as Hispanic or Latino; and an open-ended “Identity” question. The interview protocol focused on students’ understandings of their social identities. Elements of constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) guided the analysis of the qualitative data. Frequencies were computed of survey data.

Through the categories that they chose, the labels they used, and how they described the meaning of their racial and ethnic identities, the Latino males revealed the complexity of their identities. First, Hispanic or Latino may be a meaningful racial label. While it appears that they grew up with the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” used by the popular media and in everyday life, it is unclear if they are using the terms as (pan)ethnicity, race, or their confluence. Also, they prefered to identify with non-conventional race categories. Further, aligned with survey results, the young men stressed the multidimensionality and fluidity of identities and identifications in their narratives. Interestingly, while they reported hyphenated, ancestral, and Latino or Hispanic affiliations, they voiced a preference for being “American” or American-born.

Overall, the diverse and fluid notions of race and identity by Latino male millennials highlight individuals’ agency in the simultaneous rejection of and the (re)construction of the categories available to them in the traditional U.S. racial system.

Author

• Mellie Torres, The City University of New York