Marginalia Series: 001
Recommended books and essays focusing on everything from the Latine/x experience to decolonization, to the importance of pigeons.
The Marginalia Series is a curated journey through those hidden spaces. Below, you will find everything from the dismantled myths of the American West and the complex architecture of Latine/x identity, to the humble beauty of the pigeon. These texts don’t just ask us to read, but to unlearn, and they explore the heavy lifting of identity and the structures that define (and often confine) us. Whether we are dissecting the pollutive nature of AI or those in-between spaces of society, these recommendations are about finding the pulse of the human experience in the places we were told not to look.
Books
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
A visceral look at the lives of undocumented peoples, focusing on the laborers and elders who are often ignored.
Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino” by Héctor Tobar
A profound meditation on the "Latino" label, stripping away the myths to reveal the diverse, complex, and often contradictory realities of race and identity.
An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz
An all encompassing history that centers the intersectional solidarity between Black and Brown movements in the fight for American democracy.
Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating by Maura Reilly
A call to arms for the art world, analyzing how curators can actively dismantle the white, Western, male-dominated canon.
Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity by Paola Ramos
A journalistic take that goes across the U.S. that explores how a new generation is redefining identity through the lens of the term "Latinx."
Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth by Bryan Burrough
A sharp and realistic account of Texas history that separates the heroic legend of the Alamo from its complicated reality regarding slavery and land.
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
A necessary critique of mainstream feminism, arguing that true advocacy must include basic needs like food security, housing, and safe neighborhoods.
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria E. Anzaldúa
A foundational text of Chicana theory that uses poetry and prose to explore the "nepantla" (in-between) space of living between cultures and languages.
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
A meticulous breakdown of how explicit government policies, not just individual prejudice, has created the segregated landscape of modern America.
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
A reframing of American history told from the perspective of the Indigenous peoples who resisted centuries of settler-colonial genocide.
Essays
Decolonizing the Canon? by Rafael Cardoso
An inquiry into whether the "canon" can ever truly be fixed, or if the entire structure of art history needs to be rebuilt from scratch.
A vital Aymara perspective on decolonization that rejects "multiculturalism" in favor of a messy, lived-in hybridity.
Digital plastic: Generative AI and the digital ecosystem by Leon Furze
A timely look at how AI-generated content is acting as a pollutant in our information ecosystem, much like microplastics in the ocean.
An examination of the systematic erasure of Latina artists from the global art narrative and the efforts to bring them back into focus.
Plantains 101 by Ghetto Gastro
A brilliant blend of culinary history and cultural pride, tracing the global journey of the plantain as a symbol of resistance and diaspora.
Why can't I express my feelings in my mother tongue? by Observations On Love
A reflection on the linguistic gap that occurs when the language of your heart doesn't match the language of your daily life.
For Opacity by Édouard Glissant
A philosophical argument for the "right to opacity,” the idea that we don’t need to fully understand or categorize someone to respect them.
Identity Politics and Elite Capture by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
A critique of how radical movements are often co-opted by elites to serve their own interests rather than the marginalized.
Amalia Mesa-Bains and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto in Conversation by The Latinx Project
A deep dialogue between two leaders of Chicano art on the evolution of "Rasquachismo" and the aesthetics of the struggle.
Challenging the Objectivity of Science by Sina Mirzaye Shirkoohi
A look at how scientific "facts" are often colored by the cultural and political biases of the people who find them.
A Cure for Individualism by Tim Connolly
A philosophical exploration of how we might move away from the "lonely self" toward a more communal way of existing.
The Entangled Brain by Luiz Pessoa
A scientific argument against the idea that the brain is a collection of isolated parts, suggesting instead that emotion and cognition are inseparable.
From nothing, everything by Victoria Wohl
A beautiful look at the concept of "creatio ex nihilo" and how we find meaning and art in the void.
Pity the Barefoot Pigeon by Ian Frazier
An observational piece that finds dignity and humor in the most overlooked creature of the urban landscape, the pigeon.
Thoughts on Curatorial Practices in the Decolonial Turn by Ivan Muñiz-Reed
An analysis of how museums are attempting (and sometimes failing) to address their colonial roots through new curatorial methods.
Disclaimer: This work is written by humans for humans. No generative artificial intelligence (AI) was used in the writing of this work. The author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication for purposes of AI technologies to generate text, including, without limitation, technologies that are capable of generating works in the same style or genre as this publication. The author reserves all rights to Interpreting Self: A Collection of Contemporary Oral Histories Exploring Generational Latine/x-American Identity & Narrative and its various interations and forms of publication, exhibition, and display.
To view more stories by Latine/x-Americans, please visit the Oral Histories page, which will have new stories posted regularly.
To share your story with this project, in which you can choose to remain anonymous, please visit the Share Your Story page.
To learn more about this project, please visit An Introduction.
To learn more about the sources of this project and the research gap it aims to bridge, please visit the Literature Review page.
© 2026 Joanna Arteaga Ferrin. All rights reserved.