Longstanding Mexican and Puerto Rican populations have helped make people of mixed nationalities—MexiGuatamalans, CubanRicans, and others—an important part of Chicago's Latina/o scene. Intermarriage between Guatemalans, Colombians, and Cubans have further diversified this community-within-a-community. Yet we seldom consider the lives and works of these Intralatino/as when we discuss Latino/as in the United States.In Negotiating Latinidad, a cross-section of Chicago's second-generation Intralatino/as offer their experiences of negotiating between and among the national communities embedded in their families. Frances R. Aparicio's rich interviews reveal Intralatino/as proud of their multiplicity and particularly skilled at understanding difference and boundaries. Their narratives explore both the ongoing complexities of family life and the challenges of fitting into our larger society, in particular the struggle to claim a space—and a sense of belonging—in a Latina/o America that remains highly segmented in scholarship. The result is an emotionally powerful, theoretically rigorous exploration of culture, hybridity, and transnationalism that points the way forward for future scholarship on Intralatino/a identity.

Negotiating a Hemispheric Latinidad, explores how contemporary Latin American cultural products (from the beginning of the 21st century and forward), think about, conceive of, and represent the Latinx experience in the U.S. This study argues that contemporary Latin American cultural products addressing the Latinx experience in the U.S. articulate latinidad as a never-ending border-crossing process, whose aim is to forge cultural proximity with Latinx communities throughout the Americas, emphasizing the believed Hispanic heritage while rejecting U.S. hemispherical hegemony. I also contend that the forging of latinidades questions the notion of a Hispanic (i.e., European-centered), "cosmic race" (i.e., a whitening processes of racial understandings) inherent in the Latin American latinidad, calling attention to the erasures embedded in this pan-ethnic grouping. Moreover, Negotiating a Hemispheric Latinidad examines how, through the conceptualization of latinidad and the pondering of who is Latinx in a Latin American context, some cultural products opt to claim an americanidad to emphasize hemispheric authenticity and belonging. Conversing with---and often challenging---the disciplines of American studies, Latino studies and Latin American studies, my dissertation observes that latinidad is a process that articulates and mobilizes Latinx American difference, creating a "Latino" identity which, as such, is inherently uneven and unequal.

This dissertation utilizes textual analysis of media representations of Latinidad and girl culture in order to demonstrate the multiple subjectivities Latinxs inhabit as well as highlight the power relations structured by race, gender, class and sexuality embedded in the mass media. This analysis considers the challenges young Latinas face when negotiating their identities with, through and against the oppressive images of the mass media. Drawing on the work of Chicana/Latina feminist educators, I term this pedagogical project Transformative Critical Media Literacy, defined as learning how to critically read images produced and put forth by the mass media and recognize them as representations of institutionalized oppression so as not to internalize and perpetuate the oppressive messages. TfCML can facilitate a process by which media viewers can imagine ways to transform the oppressive image to one of empowerment and liberation. TfCML is made up of methods that draw from Latinx media studies, Chicana/Latina feminist epistemology and pedagogy; and theatre studies methods as articulated by Augusto Boal and his Theatre of the Oppressed. TfCML offers Latinxs a space to negotiate their own process of identity while developing a critically conscious relationship with the mass media and hopefully become invested in social transformation and liberation.

Latina/o/x places exist as both tangible physical phenomena and gatherings created and maintained by creative cultural practices. In this collection, an interdisciplinary group of contributors critically examines the many ways that varied Latina/o/x communities cohere through cultural expression. Authors consider how our embodied experiences of place, together with our histories and knowledge, inform our imagination and reimagination of our surroundings in acts of placemaking. This placemaking often considers environmental sustainability as it helps to sustain communities in the face of xenophobia and racism through cultural expression ranging from festivals to zines to sanctuary movements. It emerges not only in specific locations but as movement within and between sites; not only as part of a built environment, but also as an aesthetic practice; and not only because of efforts by cultural, political, and institutional leaders, but through mass media and countless human interactions. A rare and crucial perspective on Latina/o/x people in the Midwest, Building Sustainable Worlds reveals how expressive culture contributes to, and sustains, a sense of place in an uncertain era.

This work demonstrates how Latina/os have been integral to US and Latin American literature and history since the nineteenth century.

Negotiating Group Identity in the Research Process: Are You In or Are You Out? focuses on researcher identity and the role it plays in conducting research, whether as a member of the culture being studied (i.e., an insider) or as an outsider to that culture. Contributors address the problems researchers face as insiders and outsiders, the practical strategies used to overcome related obstacles, the implications of insider/outsider status for the design of the study, the value of insider and outsider perspectives, the impact of this on the findings of a study, the implications for advocating on behalf of a group being studied, and other important topics. These scholars are from within and outside the field of communication and include well-known and emerging scholars who have studied a multitude of groups using various methodological strategies.

This book offers a complete overview of the contributions of U.S. Latinos to American popular culture and examines the emergence of the U.S. Latino identity. According to the 2010 Census, Latinos represent more than 16 percent of the total population and are the largest and fastest-growing minority group in the United States. Their vast contributions to popular culture are visible in nearly every aspect of American life and are as diverse as the countries and cultures of origin with which Latinos identify themselves. This book provides a historical overview of the developments in U.S. Latino culture and highlights the most recent expressions of Latino life in American popular culture. With coverage of topics like Latino representations in television, radio, film, and theater; U.S. Latino literature and art; Latino sports stars in baseball, basketball, boxing, football, and soccer; and contemporary pop music; this book will appeal to general readers and be a useful and engaging resource for high school and college students. The work examines the cultural ties that U.S. Latinos maintain with their country of origin or that of their ancestors, explains why language is a critical cultural marker for Latinos, and identifies how Latinos are changing American popular culture. Insightful information on U.S. Latino identity issues and prevalent cultural stereotypes is also included.