It goes without saying that Latina media studies is a feminist endeavor. Taking the intersectional step of including Latinidad, the history and process of being or becoming Latina/o, within media studies and adding the wrinkle of gender takes us into feminism, as these two steps do not naturally happen within our contemporary white masculine normative research environment. Taking the history and experiences of Latinas and the media seriously represents an interventionist and activist impulse that is intersectional at its core.
Latina/o media studies promises to illuminate communications and media studies on historical as well as contemporary issues. As with most subfields focusing on previously omitted or marginalized populations and cultures, the interventions follow a familiar pattern. After omission—which is seldom total, as marginalized populations sign in through absence, their implicit presence a backdrop against which theories implying purity and practices perpetuating homogeneity can be inscribed—there is the tokenistic special sidebar...
University of California Press