Connecting Community Voices: Using a Latino/a Critical Race Theory Lens on Environmental Justice Advocacy

Abstract

This study examines the contested space of environmental inequity and demonstrates how engaged intercultural communication research can be used to put forth seldom heard cultural environmental meaning systems. In an attempt to bridge ecojustice–environmentalist divides, we use Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) to understand and promote practices of Hispanic communities enacting environmental justice and cultural activism. We also exemplify the value of an explicit focus on the role of race in environmental issues for communication scholarship.

Keywords:

• Latino/a Critical Race Theory (LatCrit)
• Environmental Justice
• Hispanic Communities
• Cultural Activism
• Intercultural Alliances

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the rest of the tireless research team, including Elizabeth Dickinson, Lissa Knudsen, Sara McKinnon, and Antonio Sandoval. We also thank Michelle Otero, who created and facilitated the creative writing workshops, Javier Benavidez who originally pursued this collaborative project as outreach coordinator with Conservation Voters of New Mexico, Jacobo Martinez who collaborated as director of the UNM Resource Center for Raza Planning, and Henry Rael who provided ongoing encouragement as director of Arts de Aztlan.

Notes

1. While mindful of the different ethnic self-identifying labels and their numerous meanings, in this paper we use Hispanic to refer to our study's participants. The term Hispano/Hispanic recognizes the unique historical contextualization of New Mexican populations and is widely used in New Mexico and other parts of Spanish colonized territories in the U.S. Southwest (Cervantes, 2003). Latino/a has been adopted as the preferred pan-ethnic label since it refers more exclusively to persons or communities of Latin American origin and is considered a more politically conscious label (Rinderle, 2005). While scholars like Oboler (1995) challenge the amalgamation of Spanish speakers under the umbrella term Hispanic and problematize its political implications and origin as a state-imposed identity label, we based our choice on the study participants’ preferences.

2. The second largest population group in New Mexico is non-Hispanic white at 41.7, and the third is Native Americans at 9.7 percent (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008).

3. Southwestern Organizing Project (http://www.swop.net) is an international multi-racial, multi-issue, community-based membership organization that was founded in New Mexico in 1980. The organization strives for community involvement in social, economic, and environmental decisions affecting their lives to help them achieve social justice and control over resources.

4. Foundational LatCrit scholar Margret Montoya created this topic/theme index to categorize LatCrit scholarship published in the more than thirty LatCrit symposia that came out of law reviews from 1996 to 2008 (personal communication, 2010).

5. In this paper, we avoid italicizing Spanish words in an effort to represent and reflect the integrated and unmarked use of Spanish terms, phrases, and names by many of our participants in their communication. For reader comprehension, however, we include English translation in parentheses after Spanish words that may not be commonly known by non-Spanish speakers.

6. Posole, sometimes spelled pozole, is a ritually significant, traditional hearty stew that originates from Mexico.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Claudia Anguiano

Claudia Anguiano is at Dartmouth College

Tema Milstein

Tema Milstein is at University of New Mexico

Iliana De Larkin

Iliana De Larkin is at Loyola Marymount University

Yea-Wen Chen

Yea-Wen Chen, Ohio University

Jennifer Sandoval

Jennifer Sandoval is at University of Central Florida