This document introduces the sixth module which will explore how discussions of mixed race/ethnicity complicate the construction of Latinidad. It highlights two case studies - Maria Elena Cepeda's work on Colombian pop star Shakira and Isabel Molina-Guzman's work on actress Zoe Saldana. It discusses why the study of mixed race/ethnicity has become important in understanding Latinidad. Mixed race individuals like Obama and Saldana challenge rigid racial categorizations and force acknowledgment of racial mixture. The case studies will analyze how Shakira shapes notions of Colombian and Latin identity, and how Saldana navigates fluid black Latinx identity in the restrictive US racial system.

1. Latinxs and the Media
Mixed Race/Ethnicity and
Latinidad

2. Welcome to Module Six
• In this module we will explore how discussions
of mix race/ethnicity complicate the
construction of Latinidad. Two scholars have
done interesting case studies on these issues:
– Maria Elena Cepeda’s work on Latin pop idol,
Shakira.
– Isabel Molina-Guzman’s work on Hollywood actress,
Zoe Saldaña.
• Let’s discuss each of them but first, let’s clarify
some points about mix race/ethnicity studies.

3. Why study mixed race/ethnicity in the
context of Latinidad?
• Mixed race/ethnic studies is a fast-growing field
and remarkeably varied in its methods,
disciplines, and orientation.
• Why the interest in this area of study increased?
– The 2008 elections with Barak Obama as a
presidential candidate.
• Both his blackness and his first generation biracialism have
prompted new consideration, within black communities
and within the U.S. population in general.
• It brings into perspective into discussion the operations
and meanings of race, nation, family and community within
the U.S.A.
– Questions like "Is Obama black? Is he black enough? Is he too
black?"

4. Why study mixed race/ethnicity in the
context of Latinidad? (cont.)
• But these discourses are not exclusive to
national politics. The issue of mixed
race/ethnicity has occupied an important space
in popular media, especially within the Latinos
and Media realm.
– Why is it relevant to this course?
• What becomes important is not how the actor self
identifies, but how a mainstream audience would racialize
them playing a given character.
– What is evident is that these actors are:
» not being racialized as white in most contexts
» forced to fit into a highly structured and restrictive U.S.
system of racialization
» usually not represented as both Black and Latina/o, ruling
out a construction of racial mixture or acknowledgment of
mestizaje (notion of mixture based in Latin America).

5. Zoë Saldana: The Complicated Politics of
Casting a Black Latina
Isabel Molina-Guzmán / University of Illinois
• Some of the author’s
arguments are:
– She departs from the debate:
“Should Zoe Saldana Play Nina
Simone?
• There is a growing debate and
online petitions over whether or
not US-born black Latina
Saldana should play the iconic
African American singer,
composer and Civil Rights
Activist Nina Simone
“As a US-born black Latina of Puerto Rican
and Dominican descent, Saldana navigates
an identity that is fluid, complicated and not
connected to physical appearance: Saldana,
like other black Latinos, is often asked to
identify herself by a racial or ethnic label,
sometimes being asked to choose between
Hispanic roots and black heritage.”

6. Shakira as the Idealized Transnational Citizen:
A Case Study of Colombianidad in Transition
Maria Elena Cepeda
• Some of the author’s arguments
are:
– Shakira’s music and public
persona shape both in and out-
group notions of what it means to
be not only Latina, but also
colombiana.
• She assumes multiple subject
positions
– Lebanese–Colombian
– Caribbean–Colombian
– female
– popular performer
– recent US immigrant
» How does the notion of
Latinidad fit within this
scenario?

7. Now proceed to the readings for this
module:
Enjoy!