What Is This "Latinx" in Latinx Education? Toward a Radical Re/De/Construction of Latinidad in Educational Research

• In Event: Tensions of Latinx/Latinidad Through Different Lenses

Abstract

Although the identity “Latinx” has become a widely accepted racial-ethnic category, the notion of Latinidad has also been scrutinized for its homogenizing tendencies and oppressive approach to difference. These debates have entered education, which continues to struggle to define who are Latinx students and whose values get included in a Latinx educational agenda. This paper engages cultural studies and the work of Stuart Hall to interrogate the cultural politics of “Latinx education.” I call for an approach to Latinx education that abandons essentialist notions of identity and instead positions itself against hegemonic racial projects in US schooling (racial capitalism, settler colonialism, antiblackness). Overall, this paper argues for a radical re/de/construction of Latinidad that remains flexible and committed to justice.

Author

• Michael V. Singh, University of California - Davis