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The Latina/o Problematic: Categories and Questions in Media Communication Research

This chapter examines the field of Latina/o media studies as an emergent and highly relevant area of study in communication research. Beginning with the assumption that Latinas/os constitute an imagined community, I argue for a communication approach to the study of Latina/o unity in the United States. I explore some of the politics, purposes, and problematics of Latina/o coherence and chart the negative regimes of representation that define Latinidad in general market cultural expressions by reviewing film criticism and media content analysis literature that paint a picture of consistent marginalization and persistent racist stereotypes. I argue for a consideration of theories of articulation and classification to address the unifying problematic in expressions of Latinidad in mainstream culture and discuss different domains that communication scholars interrogate to study the possibilities and consequences of Latina/o coherence. The transdisciplinary and critical nature of Latina/o media studies makes this fertile ground, not only for those who study media communication, but also for scholars of interaction and institutions who try to enhance understandings of communication dynamics in diverse cultures and problematize the rationality of human categorization.