Democrats fall flat with 'Latinx' language

[Celerity]

133. Origins

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinx

The first records of the term Latinx appear in the 21st century, but there is no certainty as to its first occurrence. According to Google Trends, it was first seen online in 2004, and first appeared in academic literature "in a Puerto Rican psychological periodical to challenge the gender binaries encoded in the Spanish language." Contrarily, it has been claimed that usage of the term "started in online chat rooms and listservs in the 1990s" and that its first appearance in academic literature was in the "Fall 2004 volume of the journal Feministas Unidas". In the U.S. it was first used in activist and LGBT circles as a way to expand on earlier attempts at gender-inclusive forms of the grammatically masculine Latino, such as Latino/a and Latin@. Between 2004 and 2014, Latinx did not attain broad usage or attention.

Use of x to expand language can be traced to the word Chicano, which had an x added to the front of the word, making it Xicano. Scholars have identified this shift as part of the movement to empower people of Mexican origin in the U.S. and also as a means of emphasizing that the origins of the letter X and term Chicano are linked to the Indigenous Nahuatl language. The x has also been added to the end of the term Chicano, making it Chicanx. An example of this occurred at Columbia University where students changed their student group name from "Chicano Caucus" to "Chicanx Caucus".

Later Columbia University changed the name of Latino Heritage Month to Latinx Hispanic Heritage Month. Salinas and Lozano (2017) state that the term is influenced by Mexican indigenous communities that have a third gender role, such as Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca (see also: Gender system § Juchitán, Oaxaca, Mexico). The term often refers specifically to LGBT people or to young people. Brian Latimer, a producer at MSNBC who identifies as nonbinary, says that the application of the term "shows a generational divide in the Hispanic community". In 2016, a student newspaper described the term as "[having] been sweeping across college campuses in the [United States]".

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

January 2020
Journal of Hispanic Higher Education

Authors:
Cristobal Salinas Jr
Florida Atlantic University

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338551331_The_Complexity_of_the_x_in_Latinx_How_Latinxao_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*.

Resumen

El uso del termino Latinx ha ganado popularidad en ambientes de educación superior. Este estudio documenta cómo 34 estudiantes Latinx/a/o se relacionan, identifican, y entienden el término Latinx. Participantes percibían educación superior como un espacio privilegiado donde ellos usaban el término Latinx. Una vez que regresaban a sus comunidades, no usaban el término. Debido a las variaciones del entendimiento del término, el autor recomienda usar el término Latin*.