Latinx College Student Athletes as Nepantleras: An Identity Development Model

• In Event: Latinx College Athletics, Identity, Masculinity Constructs, and Language Culture

Abstract

The presence of Latinx college student athletes on college campuses is increasing, yet educational research is lacking about their collegiate experiences. Undergirded by Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands Theory (1987, 2012), this qualitative inquiry used semi-structured interviews to illuminate the identity development of seven NCAA Division II Latinx student athletes. Student athlete participants embodied the nepantlera - border crossers who consciously and unconsciously coexisted as and in-between three salient identities - Latinx, student, and athlete. They derived their sense of self by bridging and negotiating multiple worldviews, which seems effortless to the outside world, and is ridden with a lot of sacrifice, perseverance, and pride. Our study conceptualizes a Latinx college student identity development model - Soy Estudiante Deportista.

Authors

• Carlos E Vega, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Vijay Kanagala, Salem State University