The story of the queer and trans Latinx/a/o higher education collective: Revealing the power of the group using queer pláticas.

Abstract

Historically, educational spaces have demanded a body–mind–spirit split into isolation for queer and trans Latinx/a/o (QTL) scholars in the academy. Mechanisms of oppression embedded into higher education institutions maintained by practices of exclusion perpetuate such isolation forged at the intersection of homophobia, transphobia, and racism, among other systems. For QTL individuals who frequently rely on relationships to navigate academic spaces, community and its care are necessary for survival. In this article, the QTL Higher Education Collective intimately share how we have fostered and sustained by ourselves this communal space that has served our various members during critical academic junctures, a space that only we could gift one another. Using the queer pláticas methodology, we answer the following research question: How does a space founded specifically for QTL scholar-practitioners shape their navigation of the academy? As a result, our queer pláticas with one another cultivated three findings: (a) forming in response to oppressive norms of academia; (b) querencia in celebration, reciprocity, and existing as we are; and (c) path to conocimiento and queer futures in seeing each other’s journeys. Informed by these findings, we offer multiple implications for research and practice that move forward and center the experiences and knowledges of QTL people in higher education.