The Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies is pleased to support Mariana Rivera Ramirez, a PhD candidate in Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies, through the 2026 CLLAS Graduate Research Grant.
Rivera Ramirez’s project, “A New Kind of Gangster: Edgars, Hip-Hop Fashion, and the Hyper-criminalization of Latino Boys,” examines how fashion, style, and performance shape public perceptions of Latino boys in the United States. Their research focuses on Black and Latina/o aesthetic performances, self-fashioning, and forms of resistance, with attention to Texas, the U.S. South, and the broader United States.
This project is part of Rivera Ramirez’s larger dissertation, “Resisting Respectability: Black and Latina/o Performances in the New Millennium,” which explores how Latinx participation in hip-hop culture raises questions about cultural authenticity, appropriation, gendered racial stereotypes, and resistance to assimilation.
With CLLAS support, Rivera Ramirez will continue developing a dissertation chapter on the Edgar haircut and hip-hop aesthetics. Their work offers important insight into how Latino youth use style and cultural expression while also navigating racialized assumptions, stereotypes, and criminalization.