Cal State Fullerton offering course promoting ‘Latinx’ advocacy
The course focuses on ‘[h]ow Latina/o and Mexican-origin communities develop in urban areas and the role of collective action in the community.’
The class also features a mandatory ‘service learning’ with the group Chispa, which calls itself a ‘a political home for young Latinx people.’
California State University, Fullerton, is offering a class that makes students partner with a group that focuses on “Latinx” advocacy.
The course, CHIC 306 - Barrio Studies, focuses on “[h]ow Latina/o and Mexican-origin communities develop in urban areas and the role of collective action in the community.” It requires students to go through “service learning.”
A “barrio” is a “chiefly Spanish-speaking community or neighborhood in a US city,” according to The American Heritage Dictionary.
[RELATED: Harvard-Georgetown report finds Latino-Americans ‘less likely’ to back politicians who call them ‘Latinx’]
The required “service learning” specifically sees students and professors partner with the group Chispa, which calls itself a “a political home for young Latinx people.” The organization focuses on “creating an infrastructure for young people to engage in policy campaigns, and taking a position on candidates,” and claims it “represents young Latinos / Latinx in all levels of government.”
The course is led by Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies Erualdo R. González, whose research interests include “contemplat[ing] urban questions by combining his interests with social justice and equity, race, ethnicity, class, and immigration lenses, with an emphasis on Chicana/o-Latina/o communities and communities of color generally.”
Several colleges and universities offer programs featuring the term “Latinx,” including the University of Rochester, which is planning to debut a “Latin American, Caribbean, & Latinx Studies” major, and Harvard University, which lets students take a “Queer Interventions in Latinx Studies” course that “brings together the fields of Latinx studies, queer of color critique, and Decolonial feminism(s).”
[RELATED: NEH funds intersectional speaker to discuss ‘Latinx’ impacts on sports at Manhattanville University]
Despite the seeming preference for the term in higher education, “Latinx” is an unpopular label with the very people it is often applied to.
An Aug. 4, 2021 Gallup poll revealed that less than 5 percent of Hispanic Americans like to be called “Latinx,” with the rest favoring terms like “Hispanic” or “Latino.” Another poll conducted by Politico found that 40 percent “of Hispanic voters say the use of the term ‘LatinX’ bothers or offends them.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Cal State Fullerton, Professor González, and Chispa for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
