by Isabel Millán

about Isabel Millán

Isabel Millán is Assistant Professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Oregon. Recent publications include “Contested Children’s Literature: Que(e)ries into Chicana and Central American Autofantasías” in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society and “Engineering Afro-Latina and Mexican Immigrant Heroines: Biopolitics in Borderlands Speculative Literature and Film” in Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies. Millán has also published chapters in Graphic Borders: Latino Comic Books Past, Present, and Future and The Routledge Companion to Latina/o Popular Culture.

Latinx

Following the 2016 shooting in the Orlando Pulse nightclub, where the majority of patrons and victims were Latinx, Marc Andreyko initiated the _Love Is Love_ (2017) comic book anthology to benefit survivors. When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017, two comic book anthologies were published in support of disaster relief and recovery for the island: _Puerto Rico Strong_ (Lopez et al. 2018) and _Ricanstruction: Reminiscing and Rebuilding Puerto Rico_ (2018), featuring superhero La Borinqueña. While the term _Latinx_ is relatively new, it demarcates a multifaceted category that includes identities, histories, cultural productions, academic fields, and niche markets, affecting how one might classify or characterize Latinx comics. Within our contemporary lexicon, _Latinx_ (noun) may refer to (1) individuals born or residing within the United States of Latin American descent regardless of gender expression or, more specifically, (2) gender-nonconforming individuals born or residing within the United States of Latin American descent. Within the US, Latin America is usually understood as any of the countries or territories south of the US—including Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean—that speak Romance languages such as Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Debatable exceptions include English-speaking countries such as Jamaica, Belize, or Guyana or Dutch-speaking...