Fostering Black-Latine Solidarity through an Archeology of Black Language

• In Event: Language and Literacies

Abstract

This paper explores how cross-racial solidarity can be fostered among Spanish speaking college students through the learning of Black Language. We follow the linguistic journeys of three undergraduate Spanish bilingual students at a Hispanic Serving Institution who enrolled in a Black Language course. We interpreted these linguistic journeys through Sealey-Ruiz’s “Archaeology of the Self” framework and drew from the critical race methodology, testimonios (Huber, 2008). This methodological approach allowed students to leverage their own racialized linguistic experiences as Spanish speakers to further understand the “anti-Black linguistic racism” (Baker-Bell, 2020) that Black Language speakers face. Findings from this study focus on exploring Latine positionality as students embarked on the process of building cross-racial solidarity in academic spaces that center Black Language.

Authors

• Sofia Lisseth Rivas, University of California - Riverside

• Alice Y Lee, University of California - Riverside

• Dakisha Juarez, University of California - Riverside

• Aislin Cortes, University of California - Riverside

• Yesenia Mandujano Leon, University of California - Riverside