A Chicagolandia Zine Community

This essay examines the creative placemaking practices of Chicago’s Latinx zine community. It suggests a reading of Latinx zines as influenced by a Latina/o activist tradition of writing and self-publishing to then discuss how Latinx zinesters not only create material worlds but also help shape the social character of Chicago’s print communities. In particular, the chapter draws attention to the annual Logan Square zine festival, #ZINEmercado, and the collective efforts of its co-organizers Oscar Arriola and CHema Skandal! to represent, contest, and circulate local identity at various geographic scales (locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally). Ultimately, Ruíz reads zines and zine communities as material sites where placemaking occurs through networked community; a conglomerate of rhetorical elements from disparate places/times/sources; sites of activity that activate practices of collecting and engagement with print culture; and festival sites that amplify the reach of these print objects into expanded cultural platforms.