Share

“¡Hola a Todes!” Language Becomes a Political Battleground in Latin America

By Ezequiel González Camaño, Rich Brown

More pundits and politicians are embracing the issue, but the public is less enthusiastic.

Standing in front of a vast field in Argentina’s Chaco province, President Alberto Fernández greeted the crowd with an enormous smile: “Good morning, amigos, amigas y amigues!” Fernández’s use of the gender-neutral word amigues (friends) is an example of inclusive language, which is increasingly becoming a hot-button issue in the so-called culture wars raging throughout much of Latin America. Young, left-leaning Gen-Z activists have been spearheading the movement for inclusive language—like the use of phrases such as “todos, todas y todes”—to, they say, stop language...

Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.

Related

Explore