Conceptualizing Latinx vis-à-vis Race in Education Research

Many U.S. education researchers studying racism and minoritized groups, including Latinxs, face the question of how to conceptualize Latinx vis-à-vis race. This question is important to the education field because schools—and education research—contribute to our society’s understanding of race and the formation of racialized groups. The author argues that not conceptualizing Latinx as a U.S.-based racial category obscures the racialization process in three ways. First, it simplifies the concept of race as constructed only on visual characteristics. Second, it misses the opportunity to connect the critiques of the category’s essentialism and exclusion as a symptom of racialization’s nefarious process and purpose. Third, it ignores that racialization is context-based. The conclusion suggests future directions for education research, theory, and practice.