Too Latinx or Not Latinx Enough? Racial Subtexts and Subjectivities in a Predominantly White University

This study examines how Latina students attending a predominantly white university in the Pacific Northwestern United States describe their academic and social wellbeing in relation to their racial subjectivities and the racially-charged campus interactions they have experienced. Critical Race Theory and Latina/o Critical Race Theory help us interpret how these students assert the authenticity of their identities in ways that either validate or contest the whiteness that tacitly frames so many aspects of their academic and social lives. These findings open a conversation on a subject that is taboo within Latinx communities and largely invisible within Predominantly White Institutions: how simultaneous claims to Latinx belonging and white privilege play into systemic racism on campus and throughout the U.S.