Looking like a Language, Sounding like a Race: Raciolinguistic Ideologies and the Learning of Latinidad

by Jonathan Rosa

Looking like a Language, Sounding like a Race examines the emergence of linguistic and ethnoracial categories in the context of Latinidad. The book draws from more than twenty-four months of ethnographic and sociolinguistic fieldwork in a Chicago public school, whose student body is more than 90% Mexican and Puerto Rican, to analyze the racialization of language and its relationship to issues of power and national identity. It focuses specifically on youth socialization to U.S. Latinidad as a contemporary site of political anxiety, raciolinguistic transformation, and urban inequity.

Jonathan Rosa's account studies the fashioning of Latinidad in Chicago's highly segregated Near Northwest Side; he links public discourse concerning the rising prominence of U.S. Latinidad to the institutional management and experience of raciolinguistic identities there. Anxieties surrounding Latinx identities push administrators to transform "at risk" Mexican and Puerto Rican students into "young Latino professionals." This institutional effort, which requires students to learn to be and, importantly, sound like themselves in highly studied ways, reveals administrators' attempts to navigate a precarious urban terrain in a city grappling with some of the nation's highest youth homicide, dropout, and teen pregnancy rates. Rosa explores the ingenuity of his research participants' responses to these forms of marginalization through the contestation of political, ethnoracial, and linguistic borders.

Genres: Nonfiction, Linguistics, Language, Race, Anthropology, Academic, Education

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2019

Reviews

[Laney King · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting look at ESL and the concept of languagelessness, confused exactly what the author wants here -i understand the frustration with ESL’s fixation on gaining English proficiency sometimes at the cost of the students heritage language, but it sometimes seems like he would prefer the symbolic acceptance of spanish in the school environment without regard for the future economic well being of the student. in a perfect world we have an economy that offers equal opportunities to english speakers and non english speakers alike, but given that’s not the reality sometimes i felt like he wanted these students to fall on the sword of not assimilating language for the purpose of his ideological thesis? idk

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quote that I need to keep in mind is the following: "while bilingualism is understood as a valuable asset or goal for middle-class and upper-class students, for working-class and poor students it is framed as a disability that must be overcome" (132).

[Gloria Cadenas Rodríguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was for one of my classes, very eye-opening regarding the ideas of Hispanic/Latinx race in the US. Recommended for whoever wants to explore raciolinguistic ideologies more in detail 💯

[versarbre]

fieldwork in public high school with 90% students of Mexican or Porto Rican origin from 2007 to 2010. highlighting the role of the principal who wanted to change the social perception of ALL students as a group (not one by one as individuals) by creating a new identity category: YLP. Young Latino Professionals

[Mike Mena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant.

[Ca Fra]

His book deserves a reread for sure, it has some nice conceptual nuggets that I will eventually have to unpack.