"'Ni de aqui ni alla' resonates with me a lot": The Experiences of Spanish-English bilingual AfroLatina/o/x Students in Undergraduate Music Education Degree Programs

Abstract

Latinidad and Blackness are typically conceptualized as individual cultural and ethnoracial identities throughout the United States. Latinidad embraces diverse experiences based on ethnicity, race, geography, dialect, citizenship, food, and more. Despite the rapid population increase of Latinas/os/xs in the United States, especially in higher education, there is still a tendency to consider the Latina/o/x identity as a monolithic ethnoracial group, masking the experiences of AfroLatinas/os/xs. Merging these social identities particularly impacts AfroLatinas/os/xs, as their racial and ethnic identities make them doubly marginalized. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of Spanish-English bilingual AfroLatina/o/x collegiate students in U.S. undergraduate music education degree programs. The theoretical frameworks of Black critical theory (BlackCrit) and Latino critical theory (LatCrit) frames this collective instrumental case study to interpret the lived experiences of AfroLatina/o/x students. Codeswitching was used to interpret the intersections of participants’ linguistic behaviors with other social identities. I frame this study as a counternarrative to emphasize the lived experiences of Spanish-English bilingual AfroLatinas/os/xs as narratives that challenge the dominant perspectives of Latinidad and Latina/o/x experiences, narratives that do not consider the experiences of AfroLatinas/os/xs. Data collection included nine semi-structured individual interviews, two focus group interviews, in-person observations, participant self-written narratives, and one collaborative music playlist. Analysis of these sources led to identification of three cross-case themes: (1) Navigating and Performing Identity, (2) Grappling with Assumptions and Biases, and (3) Codeswitching Domains in Academic and Social Spaces. Findings emphasize the (in)visibility of participants’ AfroLatinidad within and outside of academic spaces, which accentuated participants’ self-perceptions of not ‘being Latina/o/x/ enough’ due to their Blackness. This study suggests that marginalization due to AfroLatinidad systematically derives from the constant negotiation of language, race, ethnicity, and heritage music experienced by these participants within the music academy and within their lives. Implications for music education research include the use of Codeswitching domains when examining the experiences of marginalized students and utilizing a music playlist alongside ‘race crit’ theoretical frameworks to uncover how collegiate students interpret their lived experiences through music. Implications for music education practice include the promotion and performance of heritage music in collegiate music schools, special interest groups for AfroLatina/o/x students and professors at music education conferences, and cluster recruitment and hiring for graduate students and collegiate professors.