For Us, By Us, An Ethnographic Study of Baltimore City's Latine Community Creating Meaning and Sense of Self Through Community Events and Place

Abstract

This research study explores how the Latine community in Baltimore City is intentionally creating spaces to foster their cultural identity and self. It asks how Latines in Baltimore City understand and express their cultural identity through their engagement with community events. Using an ethnographic approach supported by a Chicana feminist theoretical framework and an attention to placemaking and meanmaking, I conducted participant observation at ten local Latine events and eight in-depth interviews with event participants, all centered on the Highlandtown neighborhood. In coding for key themes that emerged from this data, I identified six themes ?It?s a Party,? ?Nest making,? ?Porque Son Nuestras Ra�ces,? ?Representation,? ?Americanizaci�n,? and ?We Feel the Truest Version in Our Spaces?. ?It?s a Party? describes the overall energy and sentiment attached to the local events organized by the Latine community. ?Nest making? explores how Latines build their current home and community in Baltimore City as they remember parts of their culture and heritage. ?Porque Son Nuestras Ra�ces? explains the importances of maintaining one?s roots while also allowing for a critical analysis of what cultural roots should be maintained. ?Representation? examines the Latine community?s continuous efforts to represent the diversity of the Latine community in the events which includes its historical and colonized past. ?Americanizaci�n? examines the awareness the Latine community has of the potential consequences of assimilating to American culture?loss. ?We Feel the Trusts Versions in Our Spaces? discusses why Latines feel truly connected to themselves in spaces that are created for and by them. The analysis of the themes shows that spaces created by and for the Latine community serve as a way to preserve their cultural self and identity while living in Baltimore City. The spaces themselves transform into places that hold meaning as the Latine community members continuously interact with and within the spaces through community events and performances, interactions which form their own versions of Latinidad and self, specific to Baltimore City. What these findings demonstrate is that Latines actively carve out places for themselves to resist assimilating to American culture, countering the perception that Latines forget about their home country and motherland when immigrating to the United States. Instead, the research study reinforces the concept that Latines consciously search for, perform, and remake community in ways that resonate with who they are on an individual and cultural level.