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AbstractSome scholars argue that Latina/os in the United States may soon become White, much like the supposed Whitening of Eastern European immigrant groups in the early twentieth century. High rates of White racial identification on surveys among Latina/os is one explanation provided for this assertion. However, personal identification is but one element of racial boundary maintenance. It is when personal identification is externally validated that it is most closely associated with group-based experiences. This article maps components of the White-Latino racial boundary that may be permeable to White expansion by examining conditions under which Latina/os self-identify as Whiteandreport that they are externally classified as White by other Americans. Employing novel data from the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study, this article shows that nearly 40% of Latina/os sometimes self-identify as White, yet a much smaller proportion—only 6%—report being externally classified as White by others. Moreover, logistic regression analyses suggest that for those with light phenotypical features and high levels of socioeconomic status, the odds of reported external Whitening are increased. Interestingly, phenotypically light Latina/os with low-socioeconomic-status levels have low probabilities of reporting external classification as White when compared to their phenotypically light and high-socioeconomic-status counterparts, suggesting that the combination of both skin color and class may be central to the White-Latino racial boundary. Results also indicate that many who report external Whitening do not prefer to self-identify as White. In sum, multidimensional measures of racial classification indicate that only a very small minority of Latina/os may be "becoming White" in ways that some previous researchers have predicted.

AbstractSurvey based research typically uses a single measure of racial self‐classification to study racial inequality and to make group based comparisons. Race, however, is multidimensional; experienced not only in accord with how one self‐identifies, but also in relation to how one is perceived racially by others. For example, an individual can self‐identify racially as Black, but be perceived by most others as non‐Black. We refer to this experience as racial identity contestation. We briefly review the growing set of literature on related topics, detail the divergent approaches to measuring racial identity contestation with survey data, and compare descriptive estimates of racial identity contestation across methodological approaches. Moreover, we seek to cull others into considering the analytic utility of racial identity contestation for research on racial boundaries. We argue that a focus on racial identity contestation can be leveraged as an analytical tool to better understand the topography of ongoing racial projects by mapping social definitions of who is and is not typically perceived as a member of a particular racial group.

A contested racial identity refers to incongruence between personal racial identification and external racial categorization. For example, an individual may self-identify as White, but be perceived by most others as non-White. Documenting racial contestation is important because racialized experiences are shaped not only by the racial classification that individuals claim for themselves but also the external racial attributions placed on them by others. Focusing solely on monoracial identifying adults, this study answers three key questions about racial contestation: (a) How common is it? (b) Who is most likely to report experiencing it? and (c) How is it related to aspects of racial identity such as racial awareness, racial group closeness, and racial identity salience? Employing the 2006 Portraits of American Life Study, results suggest that reports of racial contestation among monoracial identifying adults are more common than some studies suggest (6% to 14%)—particularly among the fastest growing racial groups in the United States, including Latina/os and Asians—and that experiences of racial contestation are often associated with immigrant generation, ancestry, and phenotypical characteristics. Ordinal logistic regression analyses indicate that individuals who report experiencing racial contestation are no more aware of race in everyday life than other U.S. adults, but they feel less close to other members of the self-identified racial group and report lower levels of racial identity salience than their noncontested counterparts. These results point to a thinning of racial identity among the racially contested.

This study examines constructions of Puerto Ricans across two different media forms: newspaper articles and Twitter. We use Poinciana, Florida, a Central Florida Puerto Rican enclave, as a means to examine these constructions. Because of the high concentration of Puerto Rican residents and unprecedented migration to the area, Poinciana is an ideal community to examine media constructions of a migrant group. Utilizing constructivist grounded theory, we analyze all published newspaper articles (1995–2016) and public Twitter posts (2009–2016) about Puerto Ricans in the region (N = 174). We find newspaper articles construct mostly benign views of Puerto Ricans, reflecting "Happy Talk" diversity discourse, while Twitter constructions present more negative portrayals, generally relating to population size, and often reflecting a racist ideology reminiscent of the Latino Threat Narrative. We conclude by detailing the significance of divergent constructions across media forms during a period of heightened migration, and how the type of media consumed by Puerto Ricans in this community known as "Little Puerto Rico" is likely to influence their perceived level of societal acceptance.

AbstractThis study provides the first systematic analysis of the founding and growth of Latino studies programs across the country. Drawing on a unique data set compiled from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), we show that even though Latinos now constitute close to 20% of the US population, less than 4% of all four-year colleges and universities have an established Latino studies program. Most Latino studies programs/departments in existence today were founded in the 1960s and 1970s, during the height of the Chicano and Puerto Rican youth movements. Since then, the rate of new program establishment has fallen considerably, despite substantial growth in the Latino college student population and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs). Of the small number of programs founded since 2000, we find that nearly half have one or fewer core faculty allocated to them, and most are at private schools. Beyond tracking growth rates, we also provide insight into how Latino studies programs represent themselves on their websites and find a significant decline in racial and social justice discourse in recently established programs. Overall, the data shows that Latino studies departmental/programmatic growth is tenuous at best. Implications for understanding Latino public knowledge, the Latino academic pipeline, and the future of ethnic and racial relations more generally are discussed.