“Publishing Is Mystical”: The Latinx Caucus Bibliography, Top-Tier Journals, and Minority Scholarship

ABSTRACT

In 2014, members of the NCTE/CCCC Latinx Caucus began contributing citations to a shared Google Document (GDoc) that suggested a relatively significant contribution of scholarship to the field of Rhetoric and Composition studies. Scholars of color have argued that rhetoric and composition scholarship fails to represent diversity in academic publications (Baca; Banks; Jones Royster; Pimentel; Ruíz). This study examines statistical data arrived at through analysis of the NCTE/CCCC Latinx Caucus Bibliography, with survey and interview data from Latinx scholars providing important context about publishing for people of color.

Notes

1. The authors would like to thank RR reviewers Christina Cedillo and Jaime Armin Mejía for their generous feedback. Cruz would also like to thank Christina Kirklighter for her Latinx caucus leadership and knowledge of elders like de Ortego y Gasca.

2. Gary Alan Fine uses the term epistemic generosity to explain the treatment of ethnographic subjects as knowledge-holders, whereas I employ this term to refer to generosity demonstrated by researchers in their inclusion of diverse biographies.

3. The full list of questions can be found in Appendix.

4. Brandon and Sanchez 2017; Gonzalez/Blythe 2016; Medina; Romney 2011; Ruecker 2014; Villanueva.

5. Baca; Guerra 2016; Martinez; Ramirez 2009; Sanchez 2012; Villanueva (2001; 2004; 2009; 2017).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cruz Medina

Cruz Medina is assistant professor at Santa Clara University. He served as cochair of the NCTE/CCCC Latinx Caucus from 2018-2020 and has taught for the Bread Loaf School of English since 2016.

Perla Luna

Perla Luna is earning her MA in education at Stanford University, having earned her BA in English and Sociology at Santa Clara University.