Noche Latina: United by the Pursuit of Home

In recent years, East Jordan—a predominantly homogenous white town with approximately 2,239 residents—has seen a subtle rise in immigration, particularly among individuals from Latin America.(1) Over recent decades, the seasonal agricultural industry has attracted a small but growing group of Spanish speakers from Mexico, Nicaragua, and the southern United States to the region, many of whom have settled in East Jordan to raise families. This caught the attention of students at the local public East Jordan Middle/High School, who endeavored to find ways to engage with their community’s newest members. Their motivation stemmed from a desire to connect with their classmates and to foster a stronger sense of belonging in East Jordan.

The conversation began in the classroom of Angela Barrera, a Spanish teacher and director of Title VI and EL/Migrant Services. Here the students came together and established one guiding question distilled from a multitude of provocations, ideas, and perspectives—evidenced by a wall of mosaicked neon sticky notes. Trying to find a unified approach, the students determined that their most crucial question was: Como podemos conectar con las familias hispanohablantes para que se sientan mas bienvenidas en nuestra comunidad y como podemos ayudarnos mutamente con nuestras metas linguisticas respectivas? (How can we connect with Spanish-speaking families so that they feel more welcomed in our community, and how can we mutually help each other with our respective language goals?)

From the inception of this inquiry emerged the concept of Noche Latina (Latino Night), an event aimed at gathering people socially to provide new paths for cross-cultural understanding. Recognizing food as a powerful source of connection, the teens designed Noche Latina to be an evening event for not only the student population but also their families, the school’s faculty, and the broader community. Guided by Latino parents, students learned how to prepare a variety of recipes, which produced meaningful moments of bilingual communication. Upon completing their dishes, the students embraced the challenge of presenting their meals in their nonnative language, whether Spanish or English. The event culminated with attendees gathering around tables, where all could indulge in the various foods they had collectively made.

NOTES

(1) US Census Bureau. “East Jordan city, Charlevoix County, Michigan,” accessed September 25, 2024, https://www.census.gov/ search-results.html?searchType=web&cssp= SERP&q=East%20Jordan%20city,%20Charle voix%20County,%20Michigan.

Excerpt from  Making Home: Belonging, Memory, and Utopia in the 21st Century, (Cooper Hewitt |  The MIT Press, 2025) published in companion with  Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial  (New York, Nov. 2024-Aug. 2025)