Second-generation Central Americans and the formation of an ethnoracial identity in Los Angeles

ABSTRACT

Whether Latinos in the United States are an ethnic or racial group is extensively debated. Some propose Latinos are an ethnic group on their way to becoming white, others contend Latinos are a racialised group, and an alternate perspective posits Latinos are an ethnoracial group. This study intervenes in this debate by examining the identities of second- and 1.5-generation Central Americans in Los Angeles, California. Drawing on 27 in-depth interviews, I show Central Americans have an identity repertoire, which includes national origin, panethnic, racial, and minority identities. I also capture the situations and reference groups that influence the deployment of ethnic and racial identities. These results suggest Central Americans develop an ethnoracial identity. I argue Central Americans’ ethnoracial identity emerges from agency – subjective understandings of themselves and resisting invisibility in Mexican Los Angeles – and from structure – a racialised society, institutionally-created panethnic categories, and racially-based experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnoracial identity
• second-generation
• incorporation
• Latinos
• Central Americans
• Los Angeles

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Vilma Ortiz, Celia Lacayo, Leisy Abrego, José Itzigsohn, Rubén Hernández-León, The Research Group, and this journal’s reviewers for helpful comments on previous versions of this paper. I am grateful to study participants for sharing their experiences.

Disclosure statement: I have no conflicts of interest regarding the content or data in this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. This study is about people of Central American origin who were born in or grew up for most of their lives in the United States. While the study sample includes second- and 1.5-generation respondents, I refer to this group collectively as the second-generation because findings indicate no difference in the process of identity formation for these two groups and to avoid a cumbersome narrative.

2. See Portes and Rumbaut (2001, 2006) and Kasinitz et al. (2008) for other analyses that combine the 1.5- and second-generation.

3. A national origin identity means identifying with the country of origin, such as identifying as Guatemalan, Nicaraguan, or Salvadoran.