Transforming academia and theorizing spaces for Latinx in higher education: voces perdidas and voces de poder

Abstract

The concepts of voces perdias and voces de poder are used as a symbolic representations and reflections of oppression and power in academia. Seventy-four percent of scholarship across the world is published in English. The author argues the importance of publishing in Spanish as form of liberatory practice to provide a voice for Spanish-speaking communities who currently do not have access (to the power of academia and of information), and whose lived experiences are not acknowledged or captured in this medium, and who have by-and-large been marginalized and forgotten in research. In attempt to help improve our understandings of Latinos/as in society – and provide access, give a voice, and reflect on their lived experiences – we must publish in Spanish and teach about the voces perdidas that have been erased from the educational curriculum, and the voces de poder who have dominated and silenced the voces perdidas.

Keywords:

• Language
• higher education
• Spanish
• research
• Latinx

Notes

1. Individuals within the Latin American communities of people have ceased using the term Latinx, preferring to use ‘Latinx’ to challenge or conquer heternormativity of language, patriarchy, and gender. I use Latinx in this work as a liberatory practice that begins to recognize and center the intersectional and non-binary gendered identities in our community. Although some scholars and activists have begun using the term Latinx in their research, this term has not been fully accepted by standard discourse in academia.