LatCrit and Education Volume 2

Margarita Machado-Casas

Higher education has long been both a gateway to opportunity and a site of exclusion—particularly for Latinx communities whose histories, languages, epistemologies, and lived experiences have often been marginalized or erased altogether from mainstream academic discourse. In this critical and urgent moment of uncertainty for the field of education, social justice, and diversity, LatCrit and Education: Dismantling the Norm and Creating Visibility in Higher Education emerges not just as a scholarly contribution, but as a declaration of presence, purpose, and power. It is an act of resistencia!

This book gathers critical new and senior scholars—visionaries, activists, educators, and cultural workers—whose collective voices echo a truth that must be heard: Latinx students, educators, and communities are not anomalies in higher education; they are co-authors of its future. This volume affirms what many of us have long known and many more must come to understand: equity in education requires more than policy changes or surface-level “inclusion.” It requires a radical reimagining of what counts as knowledge, who gets to produce it, and how institutions can be transformed to serve rather than silence.

The chapters in this book demonstrate that Latinx Critical Race Theory—LatCrit—is not simply a framework, but a way of being in the academy. It offers a lens that resists neutral narratives, challenges deficit-based ideologies, and brings to the center the cultural, linguistic, and intellectual wealth of Latinx peoples. In this volume, LatCrit is alive—in testimonios and pláticas, in digital pedagogies, in mentoring programs, in the heart of community colleges and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), and in transformative teacher education practices.

From the opening section on LatCrit methodologies to the closing chapters on language education and raciolinguistic ideologies, this book charts a vibrant and layered map of Latinx resistance, resilience, and reclamation. The authors take readers into spaces that are often overlooked—community colleges, rural campuses, digital third spaces, and classrooms resisting the politics of erasure. They make visible the invisible, and in doing so, they reconfigure the contours of what it means to do educational research with, for, and within Latinx communities.

What is particularly powerful about this work is the unapologetic centering of testimonio as a method, a pedagogy, and a praxis. Through personal narratives, counterstories, and intergenerational reflections, the contributors to this volume speak truth to power in ways that are intimate, courageous, and transformative. These are not abstract academic treatises. They are living, breathing acts of resistance—rooted in lived experience, ancestral memory, and the relentless pursuit of justice.

Indeed, the book arrives at a time when anti-DEI legislation, censorship, and raciolinguistic violence threaten to silence marginalized voices across higher education. Yet the authors here refuse silence. They write, speak, and act from the margins—not to assimilate, but to reshape the center. The collective message is clear: Latinx students and scholars are not merely surviving the academy; they are redefining it.

This book also serves as a mirror and a roadmap. For Latinx students navigating predominantly white institutions, it reflects back their struggles, strength, and brilliance. For educators and faculty committed to equity and justice, it offers practical insights and a roadmap for disrupting normative practices that perpetuate exclusion. For institutions seeking to live up to the promise of being “serving” rather than just “enrolling” spaces, this volume provides necessary tools, frameworks, and stories to guide transformation.

What makes LatCrit and Education essential reading is its layered complexity. It does not present Latinx communities as monolithic but honors the intersections of race, gender, language, immigration status, geography, and institutional context. From Afro-Latina college experiences in Florida to bilingual education programs at PWIs, from Latina feminist pedagogies to Latinx Chinese language learners, this book holds space for multiplicity and nuance—reminding us that there is no single Latinx educational experience, only a constellation of brilliance, struggle, and innovation.

As someone who has walked the halls of academia with both hope and heartbreak, I find in these pages a profound sense of affirmation and possibility. The contributors to this volume are not only documenting what is—they are imagining what could be. Their work is visionary in the most grounded sense: it emerges from community, is accountable to community, and ultimately, is in service of community.

This is more than a book. It is a call to action, a source of healing, and a celebration of Latinx intellectual and educational power. As you read these pages, I invite you to sit with the discomforts, celebrate the triumphs, and commit—truly commit—to dismantling the norms that sustain inequality. Let these chapters move you not only to think differently but to act boldly.

In the words of Gloria Anzaldúa, “Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.” Traveler, there is no path—the path is made by walking. The authors of this book are walking, building, and lighting the way.

May you walk with them. Accion y Resistencia!

We want to acknowledge the work of the 48 authors who contributed to the creation of this book. These authors took the time to write, reflect on feedback, rewrite, and resubmit their work. Many of them volunteered to be involved in our peer review process as well. Their biographies appear in a separate section of this book. Thank you to Margarita Machado-Casas for so gracefully writing the foreword to this book.

We also want to highlight the 78 peer reviewers who contributed to the creation of this academically rigorous manuscript and who volunteered their time and completed their reviews with elegance and integrity. Here is the list of their names and affiliations:

Lissette Acosta, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Oluremi Alapo, York College, City University of New York

Lluliana Alonso, California State University, Long Beach

Sergio Andres Cabello, Universidad de La Rioja, Spain

Alexandra Arraiz Matute, Carleton University, Canada

Estela G. Ballón, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Charmaine Bissessar, University of Guyana

Eleanor Blair, Western Carolina University

Annette Beauchamp, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Jameson Brewer, University of North Georgia

Margaret Cantú-Sánchez, Saint Mary’s University

Roberto Castaneda, University Escuela Bancaria y Comercial Campus Merida in Mexico.

Saul Cepeda, University of Texas at San Antonio.

Cecilia Contreras, New Mexico State University

James Courtad, Bradley University

Jillian Crosby, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Alexandra Cruz, Loyola Academy

Taylor Darwin, Texas Tech University

Kathleen DeMarrais, University of Georgia

Tommy Ender, Rhode Island College

Jorge Estrada, Fullerton College

Dahlia Fabregat, University of Florida

Alejandra Fernandez, Florida International University

Eric Ferris, Eastern Michigan University

Mayra Garcia Diaz, Georgia Southern University

Rebecca Garte, Borough of Manhattan Community College¸ City University of New York

Jennifer Gilken, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Jordan Gonzalez, St. Johns’s University

Ruth Guirguis, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Amanda Gunn, Denison University

Anthony J. Harb, University of California, San Diego

Martha Lorena Hernandez Flores, Florida International University

David Hernandez Saca, University of Northern Iowa

Jessica Heybach, Western Michigan University

Susana Johnson, New Mexico State University

Kourtney Kawano, University of California, Los Angeles

Kevan Kiser-Chuc, University of Arizona

Cara Kronen, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Alexander Lamala, Bradley University

Marina Lambrinou, Loyola University Maryland

Jamie Lewis, Georgia Gwinett College

Hsuan-Ying Liu, University of California, Riverside

Jennifer Longley, Borough of Manhattan Community College, University Maryland

JC Lugo, University of California, Los Angeles

Juliet Luther, Fordham University

Mercedes M. Machado, University of Florida

James Martinez, Valdosa University

Andrew P. McKnight, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Kayleen Montesdeoca, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Victoria Nunez, Mercy College

Tegan Nusser, Bradley University

Lisa Ortiz, University of Pittsburgh

Alexis Padilla, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada

Forrest Parker, Valdosta State University

Anna Pennell, Guilford College

Ebony Perez, Saint Leo University

Diana Porras, California State University, Long Beach

Amira Proweller, DePaul University

Mindi Reich-Shapiro, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Dormetria Robinson Thompson, Miami University

Sanjuana C. Rodriguez, Kennesaw State University

Catherine Rogers Casares, University of the Incarnate Word

Cesar Rosatto, University of Texas El Paso

José Manuel Santillana, University of California, Davis

Kristen Scarola, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Teresa Maria Linda Scholz, New Mexico State University

Maria Silva, Florida International University

Andrew P. Smallwood, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Regina Suriel, Valdosta State University

Vianela Tapia, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

Sandra Vanderbilt, George Washington University

Ramon Vazquez, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

Vanessa Vega, University of South Florida

Angela Patricia Velásquez Hoyos, Universidad de Caldas, Colombia

Mark Vicars, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia

Chieftess Olufemi, Yeshua EL, Borough of Manhattan Community College, City University of New York

We also want to thank Jolie’s college assistant, Jasmine (Jazz) Corujo, for her immensurable support and professionalism as she helped us navigate the paperwork and organization of this manuscript.

Last but not least, thank you to Alison Jefferson from Peter Lang for her kindness, patience, and attentiveness. We are very proud of our final product. We hope our readers can appreciate our labor of love and our commitment to the field of Latinx Critical Race Theory.

Yolanda Medina

Latinx Critical Race Theory or LatCrit, similar to Critical Race Theory, began as a legal scholarship and an activist undertaking to examine the ways in which race, ethnicity, language, and immigration intersect to reproduce forms of discrimination and marginalization for Latinx populations, in turn benefiting Whites in the United States. This theory’s fundamental tenet is to challenge dominant ideologies of colorblindness, meritocracy, grit, patriarchy, and white supremacy to highlight the funds of knowledge, experiences, and contributions of the Latinx populations. LatCrit also serves as a framework to challenges the central discourse as it relates to education by examining how educational theory, policy, and practice subordinate Latinx people (Solórzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001).

One of the fundamental principles of LatCrit is the value of the lived experiences of Latinx students as a tool for diverse pedagogical frameworks. This principle stands in opposition to dominant pedagogical ideologies within academia that often privilege detached, unemotional forms of inquiry over experiential knowledge. Educational scholars working within the LatCrit tradition have challenged these norms, arguing that centering the perspectives of marginalized groups is crucial for disrupting entrenched white supremacist structures within higher education (Lynn & Adams, 2002). This framework has significant implications for the study of higher education, since institutions of higher learning have long been places of exclusion for Latinx students and scholars. (Pappas, 1993).

However, the current climate in higher education poses multiple challenges to the progress of LatCrit and its ability to address issues facing Latinx students, faculty, and administrators as they continue to face barriers and biases that hinder their educational and professional advancement.

The evolving and complicated landscape of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies, particularly in the wake of the recent executive order issued by the US President banning DEI policies in the federal government has significant implications for higher education institutions. LatCrit scholars must navigate these new directives while maintaining their core principles and goals alive.

This edited book will bring together education scholars who use LatCrit as a theoretical framework to critically question structures, curricula, and practices that affect the Latinx students, scholars, and administrators in higher education as well as highlight pedagogical approached that embraces diverse voices.

LatCrit and Education: Dismantling the Norm and Creating Visibility in Higher Education book gives voice to a new generation of LatCrit scholars. All chapters in this edition are exclusively written for this volume and offer a new perspective in LatCrit and higher education, in the studies of Latinx college students, in programs dedicated to empowering Latinx students in higher education in the United States and Latin America, and in transformative and equitable pedagogies that base their theoretical foundation on culturally relevant-sustaining pedagogies that support and enhance the college experiences of Latinx students.

This book is an excellent asset for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty in schools of education, sociology, ethnic studies, gender studies, anthropology, and programs such as English for Speakers of Other Languages, multilingual learners, diverse learners, Culturally Relevant and Sustaining pedagogies, Latinx studies in education, and anti-racists pedagogy. As higher education educators are looking for answers as to how to engage Latinx students and to teach in equitable, culturally relevant ways. May this book be a light in times of darkness that shares how the struggle to better the lives of Latinx communities is still alive and fighting to survive spaces of hope and resilience.