Latinx Intersectional Identity Formation across National-Origin, Ethnicity, Panethnicity, and Race

• In Event: 3157 - What is Latino Sociology?

Abstract

Bonilla-Silva (1997:469) contends that ethnic identity is distinct from racial identity in the United States, as the former is based on a “primarily sociocultural foundation,” whereas racial identity is “imposed externally to justify the collective exploitation of a people and are maintained to preserve status differences.” Against the comparably distinct categories of ethnicity and race, panethnicity has been defined as a social group identity that is made up of multiple ethnic subgroups, whose ethnic identities are circumscribed by distinct national-origin boundaries and that collectively, are perceived to share certain homogenous characteristics and features (Padilla 1985; Lopez and Espiritu 1990). Panethnicity has been labeled a primary and/or secondary ethnic identity as well as an ‘‘intermediate’’ or ‘‘alternative’’ racial identity (Jones-Correa and Leal, 1996; Lopez and Espiritu, 1990; Oboler, 1995; Rodriguez and Cordero-Guzman, 1992). The assertion that panethnicity serves the same function as or is interchangeable with ethnicity or race; however, is underdeveloped, as it is unclear what determines whether a panethnic identity will be invoked over an ethnic or racial one (Omi 2001:247). Using an intersectionality framework, this presentation considers the question of Latinx identity formation across national-origin, ethnic, and panethnic boundaries to provide a basis for shared scholarship in Latinx sociology, and to offer a fresh perspective on how to best mobilize this diverse, multigenerational, and growing population across distinct yet intersecting identities

Author

• Zulema Valdez, University of California-Merced