Constructing liberating identities: Power, resistance, and dignity in the Latino diaspora

Abstract

The Latino/a presence is increasingly visible in the United States, yet their rich cultural diversity is mostly ignored, and their identities are homogenized under names that are mostly not of their choosing. US Hispanics often suffer marginalization, discrimination, and oppression and, as the ultimate insult, the obliteration of their personal and collective identities. Latino/a theologians, in their contextual approach to the theological task, employ different theoretical tools to critically engage the context of the Latino/a experience and seek commonalities amid many differences to establish an identity. In this article, I argue that the conjunction of the notions of diaspora, empire, and praxis offers a valid portrayal of the lived experiences of Latino/a Christians in the United States. Using a Foucauldian approach to address the pervasive presence of power in that context, I suggest that Foucault’s notion of care of the self articulates a way of resistance that is liberating. Then, the Latino/a praxis of resistance and care of the self, analogous to that of Jesus, offers a theological construction of human beings, with concrete, historical, and personal lives of utmost value to God, and freedom to name who they are in the walk of those lives. In that process, identities are always provisional.