This post-internet construction simplifies “Chicano/Chicana” or “Chicano and/or Chicana.” Some academic studies departments have put this in their names. According to the University of Wisconsin at Madison Department of Chican@ and Latin@ Studies, “The @ ending (‘a’ at the center of ‘o’) offers a simultaneous presentation of both the feminine and masculine word endings of Chicana, Chicano, Latina, and Latino and allows the reader/speaker to choose the form she or he prefers.”
See Latin@.
