Unpacking Language Weaponization in Spanish(es)

Abstract

One of the ways in which White supremacy remains largely unchallenged in the context of US Spanish-speaking communities is language (Lloréns & Dinzey-Flores, 2021). While many advocate for language access for Spanish-speaking communities in the US, few acknowledge the fact that there are multiple varieties of Spanish, and that in Spanish, language and race are also co-constructed (Flores & Rosa, 2015). As such, the adaptation and standardization of White Spanishes upholds White supremacy and erases Black and Indigenous languages of the Americas (Cusicanqui, 2012). In this article, we argue for a need to center Black Latinx and Indigenous experiences in discussions and definitions of Spanish and Spanish-speaking communities in the US. We put into conversation anticolonial and relational language work (Leonard, 2021) with transnational antiracist Black language education (Milu, 2021) to demonstrate how we can intentionally work to redress language weaponization in Spanish.

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