Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-14-2025

Abstract

This ethnographic case study investigates the spatializations of Puerto Ricans in New Mexico, a state where the community is small, dispersed, and often invisible. The purpose of this study is to examine how Puerto Rican identity is shaped, expressed, and contested across New Mexican spaces. Drawing from critical spatial theory, this study investigates how broader structures such as language ideologies become spatialized in the everyday lives of five Puerto Rican adults living in the Albuquerque area. Data was gathered through interviews, observations, and participatory mapping. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the data with a focus on how lived, perceived, and conceived spaces combined to shape participants’ experiences. From this analysis emerge six interconnected spatialities: sense of belonging, identity expression, cultural blends, affective placemaking, search for community, and discrimination. These spatialities show how participants both contend with and disrupt dominant spatial narratives, giving rise to hybrid sites of identity that echo Soja’s notion of Thirdspace. This study offers insight into how Puerto Rican identity is spatially constructed and reimagined in diasporic contexts beyond the island.

Keywords

Puerto Rican, Diaspora, Critical Spatial Theory, Spatialities

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies

First Committee Member (Chair)

Carlos Lopez Leiva

Second Committee Member

Ilia Rodriguez Nazario

Third Committee Member

Glenabah Martinez

Fourth Committee Member

Shiv Desai

Fifth Committee Member

Michael Dominguez

Download

Share

COinS