Hybrid Citizenship: Latina Youth and the Politics of Belonging

Drawing from interview data collected from high school students in Broward County, Florida, this article explores how eight adolescent Latinas understand citizenship and belonging vis-à-vis circulating images and discourses on Latina/o immigration, immigrant, and Latina. The author examines Latina youths’ citizenship identities and belonging using the conceptual frameworks of transnationalism, cultural citizenship, and hyphenated selves. The author demonstrates how first-, second-, and third-generation Latina youths’ citizenship identities and belonging are continuously shaped by dominant discourses and stereotypical images while at the same time are responses that modify, resist, or echo these discourses and images. The insights of the adolescent Latinas point to theoretical and practical implications that could improve citizenship education in the context of globalization and transnational migration.