Latinos in the United States: Mestizo Logics vs. the Black-White Binary?

Abstract

The more than 60 million inhabitants of the U.S. who fall into the Latino (or “Latinx”) category constitute an excellent laboratory for studying forms of “in-betweenness”, in terms of ethnoracial identity, language and cultural expression, and possibly even politics. In critical dialogue with Ed Morales, author of Latinx: The New Force in American Politics and Culture (2018), this article examines a range of different modes and sites of in-betweenness to be found in the history and the contemporary life of Latinos in the U.S., emphasizing the importance of constantly changing social and historical contexts.

Keywords

• Latinos
• Latinx
• race/ethnicity
• mestizaje
• minority
• bilingualism