ABOUT 

The goal of this website is to center and spotlight the identities and voices of our Latina/o/x and Hispanic community members, specifically our scholars. The purpose is to give the power and the storyline back to the scholars and invite them to decide what is important and what to share. We, as a SMART community, have centered the decisions and the voices around the white “decision-makers” for far too long, and this is one step towards critically responsive coalition building. Latina/o/x and Hispanic scholars will utilize the platform to express their needs, wants, and perspectives, strategically outside of the white-centered, teacher-directed, classrooms. This website will create supportive, inclusive, and informative resources for the SMART and Delgado communities.

​

As scholars are centered on this website, the core concepts of identity, Latina/o/x, and Hispanic are spotlighted in conjunction with self-identification and expression. To tease out these identity markers more fully, start with Oboler’s definition of Hispanic as referring to “all people in this country whose ancestry is predominantly from one or more Spanish-speaking countries” (1). To complicate a seemingly simple definition, Oboler highlights the homogeneousness of the term in order to question its validity as an oversimplification, and in turn, an erasure of specificity. Rather than generalize identity politics, Oboler pushes towards a more specific analysis of identity, specifically highlighting Latinos in the United States as a core identity to deeper understanding “our own multiculturalism” (16). By naming specific identity aspects, we can more precisely engage with individual identities rather than generalizing diverse groups to one larger umbrella term and associate homogeneous traits to a diverse group. Hispanic is used as the larger umbrella term, whereas Latina/o/x has been linked to more specificity. Vega and Chávez dive further into the term Latinx noting how racial rhetoric is “in the contestation of Latinx as an inclusive and intersectional category” (320). Although the goal of the “x” was for inclusivity of genders outside of the binary, the imposition of an American and colonial linguistic additive onto a Spanish term renders questions regarding white supremacy. Additionally, Vega and Chávez further complicate the Latinx identity as still not yet a specific enough approach. They argue it is still quite an umbrella term that erases the black and indigenous ties to Latin American communities. Although there are complications and limitations with both the Hispanic and Latinx identifying terms, it should ultimately be up to the individual to self-identify. We get to empower our scholars to engage in these identity conversations and self-proclaim, or not, identities that are individually right for them.

Another example of the linguistic and racial power behind the Latinx identity is rooted Maldonado’s Manifestx article, where he argues for a stance against white supremacy. Violent acts, largely towards Latinx individuals, are rooted in “English-only policies... [that] rely on us versus them binaries of who is and who is not ‘American’” where Latinxs are viewed to be othered and seen as immigrants rather than Americans (106). Rather than centering scholars’ work on an English-only policy, the website will spotlight work created in Spanish as well as English, and let the individuals choose their own language and linguistic patterns to follow.