With thanks to George Washington University student Jade Darling, these academic papers relating to the DC-area Latino/a/x community were identified through searches in online databases such as EBSCO Open Dissertations, and GWU Dissertations and Theses Online. While it is not an exhaustive list, those listed may be helpful in identifying further areas of research. See also the DC History Center Resources entry in this guide for additional peer-reviewed articles.
Bensabat-Ott, Mary Miglio. 2000. "Portuguese-English code-switching: The Brazilian community in the greater Washington, D.C. area." Diss. Georgetown University.
"This study examines the functional and formal aspects of code-switching among eight Portuguese/English bilingual Brazilians between the ages of 15 and 55, residing in the Greater Washington, DC, area. It was conducted within an ethno-sociolinguistic framework, utilizing a combined methodology of participant observation and a set of interviews."
Brandli, Elizabeth Jane. 2019. "’What’s Spanish for Aids?’: Latino Activism against Racially Exclusive HIV/AIDS Healthcare Outreach in Washington, D.C., 1981-1995.” MA Thesis. University of Maryland.
"This research examines the racially exclusive health outreach practices in Washington, D.C. during the HIV/AIDS crisis that created barriers to healthcare for Latino residents. After analyzing the ways in which mainstream organizations failed to disseminate educational materials within Latino communities, this thesis turns to the ways in which Latino activists combated exclusion and performed healthcare outreach within their communities."
Byrom, Jamilah L. 2021. "Perceptions of Acculturative Stress and English Language Learning in Latino Immigrants.” Diss. Walden University. "This study examined the perceptions of the experiences of young adult Latino immigrants who completed an English language learning program in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. A generic qualitative study using face-to-face virtual interviews inquired about first-generation, young adult Latino immigrants’ perceptions of acculturative stress relative to experiences in adult ELL programs."
Cadaval, Olivia. 1989. "The Hispano-American Festival and the Latino community: Creating an identity in the Nation's Capital.” Diss. George Washington University.
"Building on previous scholarship in cultural history, ethnic studies, cultural anthropology, and ethnography of experience, this study examines the cultural dynamics of a very recently emergent multiethnic community in an urban society as manifested by an annual community celebration. Through the celebration of the Hispano-American Festival, also known as the Latino Festival, the Latino community in Washington, D.C. records its nascency and its growing multiethnic composition, stakes its claim in the city and federal government, enacts its emergent group dynamics, and culturally marks and defines its living space."
Cantor, Guillermo Ruben. 2008. "Breaking into the public sphere: Temporality, context, and innovation in the politicization of Latin American immigrants.” Diss. University of Maryland.
"To elaborate on this idea of politicization as well as to bring history, context, and in particular, temporality, to the center of this research, I look at two major events that crystallized the most critical landmarks in the recent political history of Latinos in the Washington D.C. area: the Mount Pleasant Riots of 1991 and “La Marcha” of 2006. In order to disentangle the process of politicization in each of the events analyzed, I examine the interplay of context (including demographic, political, and organizational features of the local Latino community), episodes of contention, attribution of opportunities and threats, social and organizational appropriation, and innovation. I then reconstruct these cases by inscribing them in their contexts and analyzing how, why, and when different consequential actions were performed."
DeLorenzo, Maribeth. 2001. "American dreams: Latino immigrants' homeownership experiences in the nation's capital.” Diss. University of Pennsylvania.
"This study builds on existing ethnographic work (Rather, 2990, examining the home purchase process of Latino immigrants in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. Twenty-six Latino immigrant households participated in qualitative, semi-structured interviews regarding their process and strategies of home purchase, and the meanings they attribute to “home.”
Ehrmann, Nicholas. 2010. "Yellow Brick Road: The roots of academic underperformance in Washington D.C.'” Diss. Princeton University.
"This dissertation takes a longitudinal, mixed-methods approach to exploring internal variation in academic achievement among a cohort of 49 black and Latino high school students in Washington D.C., tracing divergent educational expectations and achievement levels from the fall of 2000, when I was their fourth grade classroom teacher, to the spring of 2009, when they were scheduled to graduate from high school.”
Fulgencio Perez, Natalie. 2016. "Beyond The Pupuseria: Creating and Inviting Exhibition about Salvadoran Immigrants and The Pursuit of Home in Mt. Pleasant, Washington, D.C." MA Thesis. George Washington University.
"An exhibition proposal and feasibility study regarding exhibition design that uses available resources in the Salvadoran immigrant community of Mt. Pleasant. The exhibition’s goal is to enable long-lasting relationships — re-establishing and fostering dialogue between communities. The exhibit looks at Salvadoran culture; the communities’ stories of migration, displacement, and the pursuit of home. It is intended for young adults living in the DC metropolitan area."
Landolt Marticorena, Patricia Andrea. 2000. “The causes and consequences of transnational migration: Salvadorans in Los Angeles and Washington D.C." Diss. Johns Hopkins University.
"The study identifies the conditions in El Salvador and the US that combine to make the maintenance of transnational household relations central to the Salvadoran settlement process. It also examines the formation of transnational migrant identity and the social construction of migrant institutions. The study is based on two primary data sources: (1) guided interviews conducted with key informants in El Salvador, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.; and (2) a structured survey questionnaire applied to Salvadoran heads of households and transnational actors in D.C. and LA."
Luna, Ronald Wilfred. 2008. "Transforming espacios culturales into cultural spaces: A study of how the Salvadoran community is establishing Evangelical Protestant Churches as transnational institutions in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area." Diss. University of Maryland.
"The Salvadoran Evangelical Protestant Churches in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area serves as case study to examine how the transnationalism process occurs. Key findings include understanding first how transnational communities are established in the host country, as well as how transnational institutions such as Salvadoran Evangelical Protestant Churches began their process of transnationalism in the home country. Furthermore, the Salvadoran Evangelical Protestant Churches reflect and parallel the overall transnational Salvadoran historical and demographic trends. In addition, Salvadoran Evangelical Protestant Churches reinforce the process of transnationalism in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area through memory, ethnic identity, transmigration, networks, and cultural space.
Lunn, Maxine Pitter. 2006. "Community at a crossroads: Latino community participation in agenda setting in Washington, District of Columbia.” Diss. George Mason University.
"The Latino community in Washington, D.C. is at a crossroads in its political development, and in what defines the "Latino" voice that contributes to the policy agenda. Since this is a very distinct Latino community, in that it is not dominated by one national group, such as the Puerto Ricans in New York or the Mexicans in San Antonio, this study concentrates on what has determined the Latino voice over time in the local community."
Mantilla, Bryanna. 2014. “Suffering in the Shadows: ‘Undocumented’ Latin American Immigrants, Inequality, Embodiment and Health.” Diss. University of Illinois.
"This study utilizes the idea of embodiment to examine the social processes that “undocumented” Latin American migrants undergo and how these social processes affect their health. Embodiment refers to how our bodies and minds literally incorporate, from conception to death, the material and social world in which we live (Krieger, 2001b). The study uses a critical intersectional lens and an adapted grounded theory approach to analyze 31 original qualitative in-depth interviews with nationally diverse “undocumented” Latin American migrants from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area ….” University of Illinois
Pinnock, Georgina Nicole. 2011. "Adapting an image: Transforming urban built heritage to [re]claim + [re]present an inherited cultural identity.” MA Thesis. University of Maryland.
"By providing infrastructure for Caribbean nationals active in their shared culture and facilitating continued connections with the wider community, this proposal seeks to innovatively transform a parcel of Washington, DC's built heritage to reclaim and represent an inherited Caribbean identity."
Ramirez, Rosa Maria. 2014. “’Were you here? Estuviste aqui?’ Celebrating the history and legacy of Centro de Arte.” Diss. George Washington University.
“This project explores the history and legacy of Centro de Arte, a Latino Art Community Center that functioned from 1976 to 2001 in the Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights neighborhoods of NW Washington DC. This exhibition proposal aims to recover, preserve, and celebrate an important yet forgotten part of the Latino history of Washington DC. Centro de Arte or El Centro, as it was affectionately known, was established by a group of South American artists living in Washington, DC. The center served as a gathering point for the Latino community of Mount Pleasant, Columbia Heights and Adams Morgan neighborhoods….The majority of the information gathered for this study comes directly from revealing interviews conducted with former members of El Centro that still live in the area. Therefore, this thesis is a compilation of available information, interviews and images, which provide a starting point in the reconstruction of the history of Centro de Arte and the Latino community of Mount Pleasant.”
Scallen, Patrick Daniel. 2019. "The Bombs that Drop in El Salvador Explode in Mount Pleasant": From Cold War Conflagration to Immigrant Struggles in Washington, DC, 1970–1995." Diss. Georgetown University.
"Part of the Latino immigrant community in the District of Columbia that emerged as Washington became the capital of world capitalism following World War II, Salvadorans had carved out a space for themselves as a small but notable ethnic minority when civil war erupted, displacing hundreds of thousands of their countryfolk."
Stewart, Alexander Rupp. 2011. "Ethnic Entrepreneurship and Latino Placemaking in Suburban Washington: The Case of Langley Park, Maryland.” MA Thesis. The George Washington University.
"Since the 1970s, the foreign-born population of the Washington, D.C. region has more than quadrupled, with the majority of immigrants settling directly in suburban areas. In contrast to culturally homogeneous urban ethnic enclaves and ghettos, Washington's immigrant population lives in semi-isolation from one another in diffuse residential neighborhoods. 25 Displaying traits of heterolocalism, many of Washington's ethnic communities converge on ethnic businesses housed within aging suburban shopping centers.
Tremura, Lucilia V. 2011. "Transnational migrant Brazilian women in “pink collar jobs” in the Greater Washington D.C. area.” Diss. American University.
"The study of transnational migrant Brazilian women in "pink collar jobs" in Washington D.C. metropolitan area comprises thirty-four Brazilian women who chose the United States as their place to be called home. It is termed transnational because of the permanent ties connecting these women to their country of origin, Brazil, and their country of adoption, the United States. The expression "pink collar jobs" indicates low paid jobs, mainly performed by women, no expertise necessary, in the service sector."
Verdaguer, Maria Eugenia. 2002. "Class, ethnicity, gender and Latino entrepreneurship: Salvadoran and Peruvian networks in greater Washington D.C." Diss. American University.
"Through a case study on Washington Salvadorans and Peruvians, this research investigates the effect of Latino immigrant social relations on economic action. Specifically, it explores how immigrant class, ethnic, and gender-based networks interact with the local opportunity structure to mediate Latino entrepreneurial outcomes. In particular, it examines these questions: How do Latinos belonging to distinct immigrant groups leverage qualitatively distinct economic, social and cultural resources from each other in pursuing business ventures?"
Viteri, Maria-Amelia. 2008. "Seeking a relevant queerness: Sexual, racial and nationalist negotiations of identity amongst the Latino immigrant community in Washington, D.C.” Diss. American University.
"Based on ethnographic work conducted between 2004 and 2006 with LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Latino community members living in the D.C. metro area, as well as summer research conducted in Ecuador and El Salvador during the summers of 2005 and 2006 respectively, I ethnographically map throughout this Anthropological research project how U.S. identity categories such as 'queer,' 'Latino,' 'American' are not stable categories but are constantly translated and as such reinvented and politicized according to diverse constructions of race and sexuality where notions of space are blurred with narratives from the 'homeland.'"
Williams Soberanes, Claudia. 2012. "Experiences of Mexican Immigrant Women Living in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area." Thesis. George Washington University.
"This project is a first step towards understanding their challenges and opportunities, but it is also an effort to learn more about what brought them to the United States capital, a question that is especially interesting because Mexicans are less likely than other Latin American groups to settle in Washington."