Presenter: Nayelli Velazquez
Co-Presenters: Corinna Soriano
Faculty Mentor: Claudia Holguin, Heather Quarles
Presentation Type: Oral
Primary Research Area: Social Science
Major: Human Physiology
Even though some states, such as Arizona and Texas are pushing for monolingual, English-only policies, it is important that cultural spaces such as Mexican markets exist in every community. Through interviews with several people at a Mexican market and grocery store in Hillsboro, Oregon about their experiences with Spanish in the area and about what draws them to shop in the market, we found a consistent message about the importance of these types of places. Many of the people interviewed expressed comfort in having a space to visit that reminds them of their home cultures and as a place where the North American and Latin American cultures are fused into one hybrid identity. We documented many examples of Spanglish, proposed by several scholars as an entire way of life rather than just as a new language. Over the course of this project we have come to realize the benefits of these cultural spaces and we propose community-level creation of cultural havens apart from the politics and social discrimination of our current society. These spaces should be established by the local Latino communities, in order to best accommodate their identities. Ultimately, they would serve as places of cultural expression, and appreciation.