When the silenced speak: The textualization and complications of Latina/o identity

Communication scholars have begun to explore the ways in which the local discourses of marginalized groups reflect these groups’ experiences, identities, and perceptions of their environment. Building upon these vernacular or subaltern voices, this essay examines Latina/o expressions and ethnic identities in reader letters to Low Rider Magazine. The essay uses the array of identity terms employed by these letter writers to argue that articulations of Latina/o identity are complexly expressed as a means of establishing viable subject positions for these subaltern subjects. The multiple and complex usage of identity labels demonstrates how identity and personhood complicate categorizations of ethnicity, identity, and subjectivity. The author concludes that communication scholarship should be cautious and careful in its explorations of the content, meanings, and uses of ethnic identifiers.