“I am Latina and Latinx”: A Narrative Study of How Three Latina/Latinx College Students Create Identity Boundaries

Abstract

The term “Latinx” has gained much popularity in some higher education spaces, yet its meaning to and use by those categorized as such has remained unexplored. In this study, we employ narrative inquiry and the lens of Critical Race Feminism to understand how Latinx has evolved into an identity for three individuals who embrace Latinx as a third-gender space. This study presents the narrative of three self-identified Latina/Latinx students about their use and definition of “Latinx.” From these lived experiences, we learned how some users of the term might leverage it as a tool to negotiate their dynamic Latina/Latinx identity development. This article shares three findings detailing how participants define the term Latinx, the boundaries developed to claiming Latinx identity, and how they used the term and identity Latinx to educate others and/or disrupt dominant ways of knowing. Last, this study ends with a discussion of the implications of this study for education research, practice, and policy.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ It is important to note that some Indigenous communities and languages in Latin America, such as Quechua, Garifuna, and Purépecha, do not have the “x” in their alphabet (Salinas, 2020; Salinas & Lozano, 2022). However, they might use other configurations to acknowledge gender beyond the binary.

² The La Real Academia Española is Spain’s official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language.