Between Settlement and Migration, Assimilation and Resistance: Latinx Female Selfhood in the Musical In the Heights

This paper examines how the Broadway musical In the Heights (2008) represents Latinx female selfhood through the character of Nina Rosario. While the musical adheres to the thematic and structural conventions of the traditional book musical, it centers on a complex character who navigates binary oppositions such as settlement and migration, assimilation and resistance. Nina does not conform to the dominant narrative structures of the book musical, which often emphasize communal integration or neoliberal success. Rather, she constructs a liminal selfhood shaped by conflicting cultural expectations. Drawing on Mariana Ortega’s concept of “being-between-worlds” and Gloria Anzaldúa’s “new mestiza” and “tolerance for ambiguity,” this paper explores how Nina inhabits contradiction rather than resolving it, and how that position is dramatized within the musical. In particular, the analysis focuses on her signature numbers “Breathe” and “When the Sun Goes Down,” examining how these songs articulate both the frustrations and possibilities experienced by a character caught at the intersection of multiple cultural worlds. Through this lens, the paper argues that In the Heights offers a compelling and nuanced portrayal of the specificity of Latinx female subjectivity and the sociocultural realities it confronts.