Abstract
I. Contextualizing LatCrit Theory in American Critical Legal Discourse In June of 1999, American LatCrit scholars from law schools throughout the United States and Spanish legal scholars from the Universidad de Malaga gathered together for the first international colloquium ever convened to explore points of intersection between LatCrit legal theory and Spanish legal history, culture and institutions. n1 The impetus for this initial exchange was a two-fold objective. The first was to introduce Spanish legal scholars to the evolving theoretical perspectives, political aspirations, normative commitments and critical methodologies of LatCrit legal theory as thus far articulated in the American legal academy. n2 The second was to expand the scope and depth of LatCrit discourse through a substantive exchange with Spanish legal scholars, who are particularly well positioned to explain the role of law in Spanish society and to provide Spanish perspectives on the way LatCrit theory takes up the many questions raised by the impact of Spanish history and current-day projects on the complex configuration of Latina/o identities and realities, both within the United States and throughout Latin America. That Spain, its history and current-day realities should emerge as topics of profound interest to many LatCrit scholars is hardly surprising. The term "LatCrit" is an abbreviation for "Latina and Latino Critical Legal Theory" and references a collective project initially launched in 1995 for the express purpose of combating the relative invisibility of Latinas and Latinos in American critical legal theory and discourse. n3 In the ...