The politics of language has the potential to “wipe out an entire generation of people.” Like language, the theories, methods and modes of analyses we use have the ability to erase entire groups of people. Using theories that do not center diasporic Blackness to explain Afrolatinx racialized experiences, can lead to the treatment of Blackness as an additive to Latinidad. To combat this treatment, I propose an Afrolatin Critical Framework which is a qualitative methodological frame that centers Blackness throughout the entirety of the research process. Using my own empirical work, I demonstrate how the Afrolatin Critical Framework allows scholars to focus on the “Afro” in Afrolatinidad to demonstrate that Blackness and experiences of Blackness are not monolithic and vary based on multiple intersecting social, historical, and institutional factors. I conclude by urging scholars to use the Afrolatin Critical Framework to center Blackness in critical qualitative research dealing with Afrolatinx people.
Celine Maria Ayala (Thu,) studied this question.