Latino trajectories in Barcelona: a longitudinal ethnographic study of Latin American adolescents in Catalonia

ABSTRACT

The ethnographic research presented in this paper consists of two parts developed chronologically. The first part is based on a study (Corona, V., Nussbaum, L., & Unamuno, V. [2012]. The emergence of new linguistic repertoires among Barcelona's youth of Latin American origin. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 16(2), 182–194) conducted between the years 2005 and 2008 that shows how ‘lo Latino’ in Barcelona is closely linked to an identity that is tied to certain linguistic varieties, with a particular fashion outfit, and a set of school attitudes and styles specific to youth such as hip-hop. The second part is based on data collected more recently (2013) by recording the discussion, six years later, with three adolescents who participated in the previous stage of the study. The analysis allows us to observe how their attitudes towards ‘lo Latino’ have changed during this time after having lived different experiences outside the school. It is especially interesting to see how these young people construct their personal paths with a view towards what, in their opinion, means to be Latino in the context of Barcelona. In contrast to the previous study, ‘Latino’ becomes important not only in the youth and school context, but it is also related to other social issues, such as the labour market and job insecurity.

KEYWORDS:

• Catalonia
• language attitudes and ideologies
• identity
• Latino

Acknowledgements

Victor Corona is grateful to the ASLAN project (ANR-10-LABX-0081) of Université de Lyon for its financial support of his ongoing research within the programme ‘Investissements d’Avenir’ (ANR-11-IDEX-0007). The ASLAN project is funded by the French government, via the National Research Agency (ANR).