Berkeley Review of Education

Drawing on the work on “scholarship boys” (Carrillo, 2010; Hoggart, 1957/2006;Rodriguez, 1982), this qualitative study explores the schooling trajectories of working-class,Mexican-origin “ghetto nerds” (Diaz, 2007) in order to introduce Mestiz@ Theory ofIntelligences (MTI). For the purpose of this study, “ghetto nerd” is a concept that captures thepolitical, cultural, social, and aesthetic dimensions of three academically successful Mexicanoriginmales that were born and raised in low-income settings, urban communities in the U.S. Thisresearch expands on Howard Gardner’s (1985) Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory byconceptualizing a Mestiz@ Theory of Intelligences. As such, this study explores how workingclassLatino males perform and embody “gifted identities” as forms of intelligence. Findingsprovide a critical contribution to current debates on the academic underperformance of Latinomale students and notions of intelligence, and they offer the potential for cultivating and affirminggifted mestiz@ identities.