{"id":696,"date":"2018-02-12T07:33:09","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T12:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/landishouse\/?p=696"},"modified":"2018-02-06T16:11:20","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T21:11:20","slug":"latinas-coming-together-on-community-building-and-the-importance-of-imagining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/2018\/02\/12\/latinas-coming-together-on-community-building-and-the-importance-of-imagining\/","title":{"rendered":"Latinas Coming Together: On Community Building and The Importance of Imagining"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe want to see Latinas coming together.\u201d This sentiment appeared over and over again on the bright green index cards I collected at the end of our most recent Latina Discussion Group meeting. The beauty of this statement\u2019s repetition was that it happened at the end of a meeting during which Latinas from across campus, all with different hometowns, ethnicities, and cultures, had come together to talk about issues that most deeply impact us. And still: we all wanted more. We\u2019ve seen what can happen when Latinas come together, and we know how powerful that can be.<\/p>\n

We meet every month to talk about everything from how much we miss authentic homemade dishes to venting about every last struggle of being Latina at a PWI in central Pennsylvania. We might start off with complaining about how painfully problematic Maluma is (while admitting there\u2019s no stopping us from singing along when \u201cFelices los 4\u201d starts playing) and then shift gears altogether to deconstruct the pervasive violence of machismo within the Latinx community. We share stories about our moms, remembering how much her dichos guide us. We laugh. We cry. We talk through it. We reminisce. But I think the most important thing we do in the space is this: we imagine together.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, I facilitated a discussion on Latina representation in the media. I began our discussion with a reminder that this space is, first and foremost, for us. We can save the pedantic for our professors, leave our brilliant critical analyses for future essays or class discussions: this space is for our feelings, our rants, our uncensored and unapologetic Latina selves.<\/p>\n

\"\"I\u2019ve had so many conversations with fellow Latinas on campus about our frustrations with academia, specifically in its failure to properly engage with how the personal <\/em>fits in to the theoretical\u2013<\/em>this failure is something that we\u2019ve seen most deeply affect students of color. I\u2019ve sat through one too many classes where my white peers theorize on what it is to live a life like my own, as if the entirety of the humanities and social sciences were based on the hypothetical and not actual, real people like the ones who sit in classrooms together to discuss these things. I remember talking to a fellow Latina a year ago about our struggle to address topics that were so deeply personal to us in such a detached, intellectual way. We needed the space to unpack the histories that had been denied to us, to reflect on what that meant for our own identities, and yes, to talk about how these things make us feel. <\/em><\/p>\n

My goal for our discussion was to think about how Latina (mis\/under)representation in the media has personally affected us, in a space where we didn\u2019t have to worry about how others in the room might respond. Growing up, how did we see Latinas represented and what were our reactions: then versus now? What roles stood out to us the most? In what ways did these representations impact us? Did we have any examples of positive representation? If not, then where did\/do we look to for Latina role models?<\/p>\n

In sum, we talked about media representations of Latinas as hypersexualized, exotic beings, unpacked the colorism and anti-Blackness tied to that beauty standard, and vented about the lack of representation of educated Latinas. When it came time to think about positive representations of Latinas in the media, we drew a blank. I gushed about my love for Gina Rodriguez for a few minutes, but after that, we seriously struggled <\/em>to come up with examples off the top of our head. So instead of focusing on the media, we expanded our pool to think about the Latina role models in our lives. We paid homage to the Latinas who have come before us, who raised us, who motivate us. Each of us shared stories about the women who inspire us\u2014most of them family members\u2014and how they have set examples for us in ways that the media has failed.<\/p>\n

As important as it was that our discussion had brought us together as a community of Latinas, one of the things I try to be conscious of when facilitating discussions like these is we\u2019re often left feeling like we\u2019ve just spiraled ourselves deeper into a problem we already knew existed. So for the final portion of the discussion, I asked everyone to do this: to imagine what we do <\/em>want to see. If not all the negative stereotypes about Latinas, then what? What does positive representation of Latinas look<\/em> like?<\/p>\n

For five minutes, we imagined. When time was up, I asked everyone to select one line from what they\u2019d written, and share it aloud as we went around the circle, for a culminating group poem of sorts. The result was a powerfully composed vision of the kind of representation we all wanted\u2014a vision so beautiful I had to hold back the tears. When Jacqui Amezcua and I planted the seeds for this group, I know this kind of moment is exactly what we envisioned. Latina Discussion Group might not \u201csolve\u201d all the various struggles Latinas face on campus, but its function as a space for community and imagining is certainly a start. Growing alongside the Latinas in this space is constantly inspiring and gives me so much hope for the generations to come. On that note, I leave you with this\u2014our imaginings toward positive representation of Latinas:<\/p>\n

WE WANT TO SEE LATINAS COMING TOGETHER
\nWe want to see unity
\nWe want to see respect
\nWe want to see more representation
\nWe want to see Latinas be able to be whatever and whoever they want
\nwithout worrying about fitting or constantly defying the status quo.
\nWe want to see no more stereotypes.
\nWe want to see Latinas spreading awareness.
\nWe want us to be free to be proud of who we are, in every shape and form.
\nWe want to see quiet Latinas.
\nWe want to see bold, brainy Latinas.
\nWe want to see badass Latinas.
\nWe want to see activist Latinas.
\nWe want to see work-hard, self-care harder Latinas.
\nWe want to see Latinas in main roles.
\nWe want to see a Latina Star Wars movie.
\nWe want to see a Guillermo del Toro movie with all Brown characters.
\nWe want to see a Latina Disney princess on the big screen.
\nWe want to see the reboot of Ramona to have actual actors of Indigenous roots.
\nWe want to see Brown 1970\u2019s socialist women fighting the dictatorships.
\nWe want to see Narcos have a season dedicated to women.
\nWe want a badass Latina lawyer who talks down the patriarchy.
\nWe want to see a Latina Disney princess on the big screen.
\nWe want to see unstoppable Latinas.
\nWe want to see more presidents and leaders who are Latina women.
\nWe want to see unstoppable Latinas.
\nWe want to see tell-me-about-how-men-are-trash Latinas.
\nWe want to see the anxiety that tears her up inside but that she fights through every day.
\nWe want to see Latinas supporting Latinas.
\nWe want to see the hypermasculine Latino culture brought down.
\nWe want to see daughters treated the same as sons.
\nWe want to see more Latinas in STEM.
\nWe want to see astronaut Latinas. Doctor Latinas.
\nWe want to see struggling but still making it Latinas.
\nWe want to see healthy relationship Latinas.
\nWe want to see Latinas in love.
\nWe want to see women who feed, who care, who have much to show.
\nWe want to see equal access without being frightened.
\nWe want to see not just a paper but rights.
\nWe want to see Latinas vote.
\nWe want to see Latinas stop being treated as second-class citizens.
\nWe want Latinos to be seen as cultures other than Mexican and Colombian.
\nWe want to see more Latinas in the workforce.
\nWe want to be seen as smart. Not crazy or freaky.
\nWe want to see Latinas come together and stop being so divided.
\nWe want to see Latinas, less objectified.
\nWe want to see more Latinas accepted for who they are.
\nWe want Latina superheroes.<\/p>\n

Written by Janel Pineda ’18, Latina Discussion Group facilitator
\nFebruary 12, 2018<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe want to see Latinas coming together.\u201d This sentiment appeared over and over again on the bright green index cards I collected at the end of our most recent Latina Discussion Group meeting. The beauty of this statement\u2019s repetition was that it happened at the end of a meeting during which Latinas from across campus,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2971,"featured_media":701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","alt-left"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2971"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/officeofequityandinclusivity\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}