Decoloniality identifies himself as a Native Xicanx writer.David Gutierrez states that
Xicanx "accentuates
indigenous connections among historically
minoritized groups that are often categorized through a
Eurocentric lens" and also acknowledges that the term removes colonial-imposed "
gender biases that often exist in categorical labels [such as
Latino or
Chicano] to recognize the non-traditional gender diversity within our Xicanx community." Artist Roy Martinez describes
Xicanx as "not being bound to the feminine or masculine aspects," stating that "it's not a set thing" that people should feel enclosed in, but that it is a fluid identity that extends beyond fitting within the
gender binary and beyond borders. In an analysis of
Alfred Arteaga's poetry, editor David Lloyd states that "the invocation of the shifting times and spaces through which Xicanx culture and poetics have emerged out of an indigenous context through successive
colonial displacements and the imposition of layers of imperial languages is crucial to Arteaga's mapping of the material foundations of a specifically Xicanx worldview, lodged in displacement and
hybridity than any fixed identity." As stated by writer Christina Noriega, "there is no one 'formula' to be Xicanx." Rose Borunda and Lorena Magalena Martinez describe the
decolonial and transnational aspects of Xicanx identity:The term "Xicanx" promotes a more inclusive and expansive view of Indigenous identity and stands separate from colonizing terms such as "Hispanic" or "Latino/a," terms that do not reflect indigeneity and that project the
patriarchy of Spanish language with noun endings of "a" for female and "o" for male. The term, Xicanx, is inclusive of the Indigenous and colonized people of Mexican descent as well as the people who may originate from Central and South American nations. Jennie Luna and Gabriel S. Estrada state that while "the 1960s
Chicano Movement focused on
mestizo politics, later evolutions of the movement began to recognize the need for
spiritual guidance and Indigenous perspectives" which has resulted in the emergence of
Xicanx. Susy Zepeda argues that the Chicano Movement offered "surface-level representations of the
Mexica" and that the roots of
de-Indigenization were not adequately explored nor were Indigenous peoples "understood as living entities." While the Chicano Movement's recognition of indigeneity was a problematic yet important step, Zepeda partially attributes the lack of a deeper exploration to fear or
susto: "there is almost a palpable fear of knowing more about ancestral traditions, culture, discipline, and the decolonial pathway of spirit." As such, Zepeda calls upon
Xicanx scholars to perform "a conscious examination within the field of colonial trauma or legacy of
susto... [which] can lead to a 'path of
conocimiento' and to
sanación or healing of
intergenerational traumas for Xicana/x
detribalized peoples, without recreating forms of violence or the fear of
appropriation." == Organizations ==