University of South Florida to feature art exhibit on the word ‘Latinx’
The exhibit ‘locates, through the work of more than a dozen historical and contemporary artists, dynamic entry points into the discussion and expansion of the term Latinx.’
The term ‘Latinx’ has proven a cause of dislike or apathy among Latinos, despite its seeming popularity in higher education.
The University of South Florida, Tampa’s Contemporary Art Museum is holding an art exhibit revolving around the controversial term “Latinx.”
The exhibit, titled “X Factor: Latinx Artists and the Reconquest of the Everyday,” will start on Jan. 17.
The exhibit “locates, through the work of more than a dozen historical and contemporary artists, dynamic entry points into the discussion and expansion of the term Latinx,” according to the event description.
It also “grounds a series of redefinitions of ‘Latinity’ in the everyday lives of its creators, especially where artworks and creative processes reconquer novel meanings from hackneyed and conventional ideas of ethnicity, race, class, politics, representation, and the history of US migration.”
“Latinx,” according to Colorado State University’s definition, is “the gender-neutral alternative to Latina or Latino” and has “emerged from queer Latinx online communities in order to challenge the gender binary.”
The term has gained popularity in certain corners of higher education.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for example, is offering a class on “Queer LatinX Environmentalisms” that looks at “queer LatinX literature from the late 1980s to the present as it intersects with ecological and environmentalist concerns.”
The seeming popularity of “Latinx” in higher education stands in stark contrast to the unpopularity of the term with Latinos.
[RELATED: UCLA prof says bilingual education can ‘racialize Latinx students’]
Only four percent of Latinos actually prefer the term “Latinx,” and the vast majority either actively dislike it or do not care one way or the other, a Gallup poll found.
Less than six percent of Americans use the term “Latinx” regularly.
Campus Reform has reached out to the University of South Florida, Tampa for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
