On Sept. 16, the Division of Inclusive Culture and Belonging hosted an event discussing Latinx identity politics via a personal, historical and contemporary lens.
Dr. Edgar Cota-Torres and Dr. Edwardo Portillos led the workshop, launching the second year of the department’s Heritage Month Munch and Learn events, designed to educate students, faculty and staff.
Edgar Cota-Torres: professor of humanities
Cota-Torres is an expert on U.S./Mexico border literature and teaches a course on Latin American Cinema.
He said that there is a sizeable population of Hispanic and Latinx people in America who are never given the opportunity to learn their own culture, history and literature. “We’re in the States, we’re not in Latin America, right? But I understand that the Latino Hispanic culture and history is a part of this [American] history,” Cota-Torres said.
Cota-Torres brings a unique lens to this, as he has learned about the history of the border from both an American and a Mexican perspective.
“When I studied Mexican history in Mexico, they refer to the situation as the American invasion … each country manipulates their agenda or their history for their own benefit or patriotic intentions,” Cota-Torres said.
Cota-Torres gave insight into the experience of immigrants who never crossed the U.S. border and experienced the border moving past them instead.
He also shared his own experience growing up in Calexico, a city split by the border of Mexico and California. Cota-Torres grew up immersed both in Latinx culture in Mexico and in the American education system, which created a split between the norms of his home and his school.
Edwardo Portillos: associate professor of sociology
Portillos discussed the construction of his identity in relation to Hispanic Heritage Month (the name given to Latinx Heritage Month by the U.S. government, but Latinx is preferred as it is more inclusive of differing ethnic and gender identities).
Portillos believes UCCS needs to change how it thinks about identity. “There should be an excitement when a class … is offered to [bring] Latinx students — to [bring] all students — into the classroom,” he said.
While Hispanic Heritage Month began as a government intervention in the 1980s, the institution has helped to celebrate the contributions of Latinx people as doctors, lawyers, politicians and more. “Disrupt these images that we have of criminality, right? We’re not just gang members, we’re not just drug dealers,” Portillos said.
Portillos elaborates upon the complexity and violence of the history between Mexico and the U.S., including the Mexican American war, anti-immigration policies and mass deportations.
Portillos grew up in Colorado Springs where he rarely saw his identity reflected by those around him. He felt he was not represented in his community or in the media.
He felt like he never fit in with other Americans, but also did not belong with his Spanish-speaking cousins. “I can’t be American, but I’m not really Mexican, either,” Portillos said.
It wasn’t until Portillos took a Chicano studies class at CU Boulder that he truly formed his identity and understanding of his ethnicity: “I encourage students to take ethnic studies [courses] … I thought they were very important in informing my identity.”
The next Heritage Month Munch and Learn is on Oct. 29 at 11 a.m. and will focus on Disability Awareness Month.
Photo Courtesy of Division of Inclusive Culture & Belonging