Learning Latinidad: The role of a Latino cultural center service-learning course in Latino identity inquiry and sociopolitical capacity

ABSTRACT

College culture centers are safe havens for underrepresented students, yet we know little about them. Through a survey with open- and closed-ended questions, this exploratory study examined the experiences and learning of 9 out of 11 college students who completed an academic course offered through a Latino Cultural Center (LCC). Through analysis of open-ended responses, we found that these students (1) engaged in Latino identity inquiry; (2) developed critical consciousness; (3) developed sociopolitical capacity; and (4) viewed Latino faculty as valuable to their learning. Findings have implications for conceptualizing Latino identity inquiry and framing concepts for future LCC research.

KEYWORDS:

• Latino cultural center
• Latinidad
• Latino identity inquiry
• Latino college students
• critical consciousness

Notes

¹ We acknowledge that Latinx is increasingly being used as a gender-neutral panethnic label. To remain consistent with the language we used in our survey at the time this study took place, as well as the scholarly writing on Latinos at the time of this study, we use Latino as a generic panethnic label and use Latino or Latina to indicate specific gender where needed. We recognize that these gendered labels perpetuate the gender binary that Latinx, as a term, is aiming to move us away from. Our aim is for our future research to consider how we can use Latinx as a panethnic label throughout the study and subsequent writings.