The student-led Latinx Voices journal seeks to amplify the intersectional voices of Latinx students on campus and in the community.
When Saddleback College Chicanx/Latinx studies professor Jose Lumbreras asked his students in the fall semester of 2023 to conduct oral histories of people from the Latino community, the assignment not only resonated with the students – it inspired them to tell their own stories.
Second-year student Stephanie Dena recalls a quote Lumberas continuously told his class by Filipino rebel-poet and national hero, José Rizal: “Know history, know self. No history, no self.” For her, it manifested cultural connection and identity.
“This phrase helped me better understand the importance of oral history and give it a meaning to embrace it,” Dena said. “It was my first semester back – I was a returning student after the pandemic – when we started this club. Before we started meeting, I always left directly home after every class and this club gave me motivation to continue in school and build the community we have now.”
She and others started the Latinx Voices Club in the fall of 2023. It grew quickly, from four students to 15, strongly influenced by conversations around representation and the concerns that Saddleback Latinx students faced on campus. As the students began to look closely and critically, it pushed them to explore and question issues many of them struggled with: intergenerational trauma, imposter syndrome, first-generation students, undocumented status and more.
The students focused on building a community with field trips, manning a booth on campus and hosting events like a concha-making workshop, a collaboration with sister campus Irvine Valley College, as well as attending conferences.
With funding from the college – including grants, federal work-study and scholarships – and support from Saddleback College professors and administrators, the student club mobilized around a specific goal – opening up submissions for the first edition of Latinx Journal to Latinx students on campus (Saddleback is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and approximately 25% of the 40,000 undergraduates are Latinx).
“Before Lumbreras’ class, we were unaware that student-led underground journals existed. We saw creating the Latinx Voices journal as a way to publish our stories – which we never thought we could do – and preserve history,” said Dena, who is the president of the club. “It was something that we really wanted to accomplish for ourselves and our community.”
The inaugural issue of the Latinx Voices journal was published in September 2024 and features 138 glossy pages of essays, interviews, staff features and poems. Five hundred copies were printed and distributed across campus, in addition to being added as a resource to the school library, ethnic studies website and Open Educational Resources (a digital collection of learning, research and teaching materials).
Click here to find a pdf copy of Latinx Voices, Vol. 1
The journal’s cover, designed by San Diego muralist Alicia María Siu, symbolizes immigration, adaptation and resilience. The vibrant cover incorporates deep-hued depictions of students in graduation garb, a woman cleaning, a construction worker and a farmworker balancing a basket of oranges with a fluttering monarch butterfly. Throughout the book, five graphic markers – a hummingbird, monarch, rose, barbed wire and broken mirror – represent meanings of hardships to new beginnings.
“We had 36 submissions,” Dena said. “When the submissions started coming in, we were like, ‘OK, it's time to start putting it all together and get things done.’ We were meeting weekly, brainstorming ideas, assigning essays to edit – we did all the editing – and gathered artwork …. We couldn’t stop staring at the journal when we finally had it in our hands.”
The students worked on and completed the journal over the course of a year. “Keep in mind they made this happen on top of their school work, juggling finals, jobs, family commitments and responsibilities,” said Lumbreras, who has been teaching at Saddleback since 2021. “It’s amazing what they’ve done. It’s our history, it’s our parents and grandparents’ history, it’s our community – it's also a healing process, being able to learn about our families. Now, they can take this experience with them wherever they go.”
Among those students was Evelyn Barrera, a 21-year-old child development major who shared her grandmother’s story “Marching with Chavez,” which recalls the matriarch’s past as an activist and farmworker.
“I cried when I first opened up the journal and saw my grandmother’s oral history,” said Barrera, wiping a tear streaming down her cheek. “I cried because I didn’t learn how to read until I was in sixth grade. All of my teachers told me that I was dumb and would put me down – not just shaming me but also shaming my mom. I never thought I was going to get to this level in my education let alone be brave enough to be part of this.”
Barrera later found out her grandmother shared a sentiment with Lumbreras, saying that she dislikes talking in front of people “pero ya lo hago (but I now do it).” She agreed to be part of this project because “she sees that her granddaughter wants a future and she sees how hard she's working.”
The students have begun working on the second edition. “We already have people turning in submissions,” said Galia Diaz-Montoya, 20. “It’s pretty beautiful, we’ve created an incubator that is based on the community and what they think is important.”
Lumbreras hopes that the annual journal will continue to evolve, educate, document Latinx experiences and foster community. Future plans include expanding student representation, starting an accompanying podcast, and creating a website and handbook for incoming students that will steward the journal.
“I remember when I first started college, I was like, ‘I can't wait to finish,’ and now I'm like, ‘Do I even want to transfer yet?” Dena said with a grin. “I have one semester left so it has to happen but I can’t help but feel sad because I want to see them keep going.”
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