| Abstrakt: |
The politics of visibility and whiteness are multifaceted, complicated, and nuanced in how Latinidad is perceived, represented, and stereotyped. For U.S. Latino/a/x folks, Latinidad is often identified through typical signifiers: name (e.g., anglicized and/or Spanishized), how one speaks both English and Spanish, and the color of one's skin; stereotypic and phenotypic markers that tend to rely on codes of Spanish-accented English and dark skin, dark eyes, and/or textured hair. This essay unpacks these and other marked signifiers through an exploration of whiteness in Latinidad as part of border identities and rhetorics. From the vantage point of the U.S./México border and borders beyond, whiteness and Latinidad are complicated, yet common relationships. Using work related to racial recognition and racial scripts, I argue that whiteness and Latinidad both challenge and reify stereotypical understandings of Latinas/os/xs, through questioning belonging, performing privilege, and erasing marginalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
