The Complexity of the “x” in Latinx: How Latinx/a/o Students Relate to, Identify With, and Understand the Term Latinx

Abstract

The usage of term Latinx has gained popularity in higher education settings. This study documents how 34 Latinx/a/o students relate to, identify with, and understand the term Latinx. Participants perceive higher education as a privileged space where they use the term Latinx. Once they return to their communities, they do not use the term. Due to the variations in understandings of the term, the author contends that one should consider using the term Latin*.

Community Colleges’ Use of the Term “Latinx”

“…It is important to recognize that the term Latinx or its variations have not been analyzed in languages beyond English and Spanish, such as in Portuguese (Brazil), French (French Guiana), Dutch (Suriname), and other indigenous languages (Salinas, ). Similar to how the term “Hispanic” does not include all Latin American people, the term Latinx “is geographically inclusive of these countries, it is not necessarily phonetically inclusive” (Salinas, , p. 6). Therefore, as stated earlier, for purposes of being inclusive of all Latin American people descent we used the term Latinx/a/o.…”

“…Throughout this piece, we opt to use “Latinx/a/o” over “Latinx” when specifically referring to groups of people. The order of the letters following “Latin‐“ is intentional in order for us to disrupt the gender binary with the “x” first as well as to disrupt the male normativity of the term “Latino.” See Salinas () for further discussion of the distinctions of this usage.…”

México, the Americas, and Spain Perspectives and IB Education Innovations: ¿Hacia Dónde Vamos?

“…The latter term is also arguably inappropriate because it refers to the Spanish-speaking population of the Americas as Latino, which in principle would apply to all who speak romance languages, such as Portuguese, French, Italian, and Romanian, and this is certainly not the intension. More recently, the term LatinX has been developed in the United States to refer to this population in a genderneutral manner, but the term has not fully caught on outside the niche groups who developed the term, and certainly not outside the United States (Salinas 2020).…”

An Intersectional Investigation of Study Abroad Intent among Latino/a and White First-generation College Students

“…We appreciate the inclusive intent behind the terms "Latina/o" and "Latinx," but have opted to use the term "Latino/a" as it may better reflect the values, traditions, and preferences of members of the diverse community it describes(de Onis, 2017;Salinas, 2020).…”