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  Valencia, Jocelyn

  Jocelyn Valencia

  J. is a 3rd year student at NEIU. J. narrates her experience of linguistic shame, focusing on safe spaces to speak Spanish in academic settings in the Midwest. She discloses experiencing racial, gender, and linguistic discrimination in these spaces, including conferences and campuses, highlighting how people are treated differently based on their way of speaking. J. conveys the deep sadness and anger this unjust treatment evokes in her. J. relates to speaking Spanish in academic spaces as a purposeful choice and her "mini-revolution;" a way to assert her presence and claim her belonging in places where she has been told—explicitly or implicitly—that she does not belong. Speaking Spanish situates her on an intergenerational line: she honors the legacy of those who worked hard for her to occupy academic spaces while also making room for future generations by speaking Spanish. At the beginning and end of her narrative, J. describes her profound connection to Spanish and to Latin American and Latine culture, particularly through clothing and aesthetics.