Sembrando Semillas, sowing seeds: Reflections on Latinx representations in US community psychology's AJCP

Abstract

AbstractLatinx have contributed to the foundation and formation of the United States, and as this demographic increases, overlooking their unique experiences and lived conditions can limit community psychology's potential to better support them in their wellbeing. Thus, in alignment with the call for a virtual special issue highlighting critical themes in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP), we take an exemplar approach to reviewing 15 articles published between 1979 and 2023. We highlight these articles for their unique contributions in laying the foundation or shifting the discourses of Latinx in the United States. We organize each article under one of the following themes: (1) Challenging notions of Latinx as passive victims or deficient; (2) Documenting the misrepresentation and invisibility of Latinx in community psychology; (3) Affirming Latinx as knowledge producers, protagonists, and agents of change; and (4) Centering Latin American epistemologies that foster liberatory praxis for and with Latinx. Via these themes, we illustrate where the discipline has been, and offer reflection for where it can move toward as it relates to Latinx. In doing so, we highlight perspectives grounded in Latinx communities. Our review is not exhaustive; however, it offers our subjective interpretation or curation of the articles we acknowledge as fundamental to the discipline's formation, and our learning and ongoing growth as critical community psychologists of Latin American heritage with affinities to Latinx communities in the United States. We offer this brief review as a semilla (seed) to the possibilities ahead as we remain open to reflection, dialog and learning.