I recommend using these dominant and counter narratives as an activity with students early in the school year, putting these statements around the classroom and asking students to select ones to which they react strongly, either in agreement or disagreement. Students can work individually or in pairs to analyze and respond to these statements, followed by a class discussion in which students share a statement they disagree with, and other students are invited to share the statement they believe challenges the dominant narrative shared. This will continue until all 16 statements are shared. The activity should also allow space for students to disagree with one another and engage in discourse about their differing views. Finally, this activity will layout the enduring understandings – that is, the counter narratives – that form the basis of the course. In addition to this foundational activity, these dominant and counter narratives will be investigated throughout the course with specific evidence, which will help students unpack assumptions they may have had, as well as trace the potential shifts in their views throughout the timeframe of course.
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Dominant Narratives:
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Counter Narratives:
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1. Latinx history is only important for those who identify as Latinx.
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1. Latinx history is a major part of U.S. history, and is important for all who identify as Americans to know, as well as for anyone studying U.S. history.
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2. Latinx history is monolithic, and all Latinx people share singular or at least similar experiences.
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2. The history of Latinx people is vast, diverse, and contested, in terms of time, place, and peoples. The themes of borderlands and migration, occupying various and changing identities, must be central to any Latinx history curriculum.
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3. Latinx people are a specific racial group, whose identity and history is entirely distinct from other racial and ethnic groups, such as indigenous or Black people and their histories.
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3. Many Latinx people also identify as indigenous and/or Black (Afro-Latinx), and Latinx history is deeply intertwined with indigenous and African American histories in various ways. The complexity of latinidad must be uplifted, and themes of mestizaje (mestiza/o or mixed-race identity) should be central to any Latinx history curriculum.
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4. Latinx history is primarily a history of oppression, and Latinx people deserve pity for what they have experienced.
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4. While it is true that Latinx people have faced significant oppression in the history of the U.S., their identity and history is much bigger than oppression. Any Latinx history curriculum must highlight Latinx people’s culture, inventiveness, achievement, and radical reimagining, which have created new possibilities for what the U.S. could be.
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5. Latinx history is all about resistance to white supremacy, a struggle that Latinx people have fought for themselves alone and by themselves.
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5. While resistance to white supremacy is indeed a reality of Latinx history, this is not the only focus of Latinx history. Furthermore, Latinx resistance has – and continues to be – intersectional, fighting for workers rights, economic justice, health care, women’s rights, queer and trans rights, and many other struggles. This resistance has been and continues to be in solidarity with many other groups.
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6. The fact that Latinx people have been able to fight for their rights is a testament to American exceptionalism.
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6. The oppression Latinx people have experienced in this country is a reflection of the United States, a country founded on and sustained by colonization, imperialism, war, land conquest, and white supremacy. Furthermore, that Latinx people – and many others – are still struggling for freedom and justice in this country demonstrates that the U.S. continues to be driven by these forms of domination.
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7. Latinx history, like all histories, is full of individual heroes who deserve to take center stage for what they have contributed to Latinx history, success, and culture.
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7. While the achievements, stories, and words of specific Latinx people will be highlighted, it is necessary to acknowledge that especially when it comes to struggles and victories in the name of justice, no individual does that work in isolation. There may be a face or voice of a particular movement, but movements – and especially victories – are always about the groups of people, many unnamed or unknown, who made it possible. Even when looking at art, literature, or music, rarely is anything created in complete isolation.
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8. The racism of the past and the present is a result of individual choices and people. Changing the hearts and minds of these individuals will eradicate racism.
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8. The racism of the past and present is upheld by the systems within our society, including but not limited to the criminal justice system, the lawmaking and judicial systems, the education system, and many more. Although individuals work within these systems and those individuals might indeed be racist, it is the systems that justify and perpetuate the racism on a much larger scale. Thus, it is not until racism is eradicated from these systems that racism will end. Finally, this does not mean that working with individuals to challenge their racism is not also an important part of anti-racism efforts.
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