Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá: Conceptualizing the self-authorship experience of gay Latino college men using conocimiento

ABSTRACT

This essay aims to enhance our conceptual understanding of students with intersectional identities, specifically gay Latino men in college. We first explain how ethnic, gender, and sexual identities can act as compounding influences. Second, we review two distinct but complementary developmental theories. Conocimiento captures the disruptive, challenging path experienced by marginalized Latino youth. Self-authorship situates the broader developmental process in and beyond college. Our modified framework—conociéndose y escribiéndose—conceptualizes how college students navigate multiple marginalized identities. Finally, we discuss the implications of this intersectional framework for LGBTQ+ students and institutions seeking to enhance diversity, inclusion, and student success.

KEY WORDS:

• Gender
• masculinity
• sexuality
• Latino students
• higher education
• conocimiento
• self-authorship
• intersectionality
• identity
• LGBTQ students

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge and thank Miguel Hernandez, Estee Hernández, and Dr. Anita Revilla-Tijerina for their contributions in providing conceptual and critical feedback as well as Alyssa Hernandez who assisted with the edits.

Notes

¹ The authors do not dispute the effects of patriarchy and male dominance in society in general (see Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005), as well as college environments in particular. Rather, we note the specific issue of student success in college, especially for men of color, which has tended not to focus on marginalized sexualities (e.g., Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2006).

² In this article, “gay” refers to any men with a non-dominant sexual identity. We also use LGBTQ+ in this article to refer to students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other non-dominant sexual identities.

³ Erikson’s (1950) seminal theory of identity development articulates identity “conflict,” and indeed “identity crisis,” as a normative developmental life stage, further developed by later scholars (e.g., Marcia, 1966). However, even theories of ethnic identity development (Phinney, 1989) do not capture the challenges of identity development for marginalized students—even on one axis of marginalization—as evocatively and sharply as does Anzaldúa. In establishing a theoretical frame intersecting three axes of identity—gender, ethnicity, and sexuality—Anzaldúa’s framework is particularly useful.

⁴ Derived from Anzaldúa (2002).

⁵ Derived from Baxter Magolda (2010).