Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino”

Our Migrant Souls

By Héctor Tobar. Assembles the author’s experiences as the son of Guatemalan immigrants and the stories told to him by his Latinx students to offer a rebuke to racist ideas about Latino people. Decodes the meaning of “Latino” as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern U.S., and seeks to give voice to the angst and anger of young Latino people who have seen latinidad transformed into hateful tropes about “illegals” and have faced insults, harassment, and division based on white insecurities and economic exploitation. Investigates the US-Mexico border “wall,” Frida Kahlo, urban segregation, gangs, queer Latino utopias, and the emergence of the cartel genre in TV and film. Read more.