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Latino vs Hispanic: Which one is Right?
Latino vs Hispanic: Which one is Right?
Submitted by Alana Moncada on Wed, 07/23/2008 - 7:03pm.
I am of Honduran decent and I've always considered myself Hispanic, but in past conversations with a few of my Hispanic friends I've been asked why I don't refer to myself as Latina insteed. I'm not sure if I know the right answer to this.
Is there a right or wrong answer to this question?
I'd love to hear your thoughts, opinions.
Alana
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I don't think it's really
I don't think it's really important how you call yourself: hispanic or latino. It doesn't change the sense.
Kind regards,
Lorena
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El Etnónimo de nuestro exónimo o autónimo or the concept of race
Very interesting question Alana.
I question myself that particular idea everytime I fill a form that needs me in a specific ethnic group. I learned that there is a standard US Census so people can tell what background you are in a common ground. Imagine if we have to add more names to that list depeding where you parents, grandparents and all the crowd came from.
Many times we call different groups of people on regards of their nationality as we grew up thinking they are, but most of times centered in our own culture. If you ask a mexican if he or she is a latino or hispanic, he or she wont probably feel identified with it unless this person is living in a different country. As we know, he or she will refer him or herself as mexican, that's it. As you will read further and based on other answers here, how would you place a brazilian or a french speaker from French Guiana or other territories as Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, St. Martin and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (interesting thing is at least in the Guiana the official currency is the Euro - how many places in north-central-south america uses euros?) If the person is not a spanish speaker, but it is indeed a native of South America. So, should we exclude all those non spanish speakers territory from being hispanic? Well, I am not sure how the exact classification goes, but there are things that are in motion all the time and that motion causes changes. As we know human migration is an important factor, and maybe in the future we end so segregated that we eliminate the sub classifications to the demography that happens then because we are either so mixed or so divided.
It's funny how I have always considered that my race is caucasian, that's how I learned it in the school. According to some scientist, It's outdated.
Now the technical part: Voy a hacer una pequeña referencia de la wikipedia.org con respecto al tema:
Un etnónimo , en (griego ethnos, 'tribu', + onuma, 'nombre') es el nombre de un grupo étnico. Se habla de un exónimo cuando el nombre ha sido atribuido por otro grupo, o de un autónimo si ha sido autoasignado. Por ejemplo, el grupo étnico dominante en Alemania es el de los germanos, un exónimo llevado al español desde el latín; los germanos se refieren a sí mismos con el autónimo "deutsch".
Si le preguntas a un mexicano, éste no se va a identificar como latino o hispano, simplemente va a ser mexicano. El gentilicio que conoce con respecto a su conocimiento y experiencia.
"La generalización del término "latino" o "latinoamericano" puede generar una cierta imposición, por tal razón se debe tener mucho cuidado en el uso del mencionado término, ya que comúnmente se utiliza para denominar a los países hispanohablantes en latinoamérica, pero ellos no son los únicos cuya lengua deriva del latín, ya que podríamos también incluír a Brasil y otros países que nada tienen que ver."
"Principalmente en Estados Unidos, se utiliza el término hispano para nombrar a todos los hablantes de español o castellano (en vez de llamarles hispanohablantes), independientemente de su raza, grupo étnico y nacionalidad. "
The demonyms Latino and Latina (feminine), are defined in English language dictionaries as:
"a person of Latin-American or Spanish-speaking descent."[1]
"A Latin American."[2]
"A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."[2]
"a native or inhabitant of Latin America"[3]
"a person of Latin-American origin living in the United States"[3]
"someone who lives in the US and who comes from or whose family comes from Latin America"[4]
The two words originate in American Spanish latino and latina (from Latin Latinus, Latina), either meaning "Latin", or possibly a clipped form of latinoamericano, "Latin American".[1][2][3]
In the United States, the term is in official use in the ethnonym Hispanic or Latino, defined as "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race."."[5][6]
^ a b "Latino - Definitions from Dictionary.com". Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. Retrieved on 2008-03-03. Definition source: Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
^ a b c "Latino - Definitions from Dictionary.com". Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. Retrieved on 2008-03-03. Definition source: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
^ a b c "Latino - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary". Merriam Webster, Incorporated. Retrieved on 2008-03-03.
^ "Cambridge Dictionaries Online - Cambridge University Press". Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Cambridge University Press 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-03.
^ a b c Office of Management and Budget. "Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. Federal Register Notice October 30, 1997". Retrieved on 2008-01-11.
^ a b c d e United States Census Bureau (March 2001). "Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.
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A different point of view
I find this conversation interesting as it deals with how we identify ourselves, and we all go through the self identification evaluation at some point. I went through the whole who am I thing a long time ago and now I simply refer to myself as American or Black. Trying to identify along racial lines would be a major chore. There's the African portion, but also Scottish, Irish, Jewish, East Indian, Native American and that's just what I know. For me it's easier to simply be Black.
There's also the other side of the coin as far as how do others identify you. Over the years I have heard others call me Negro or Colored. Now in order to prevent offending anyone the accepted term ins African-American. This term actually excludes every other area of my background. But others looking at me cannot define what I am. I normally use the term Hispanic unless someone prefers Latino. Because I am outside looking in it's impossible for me to define what the actual ethnic background is. However I do want to acknowledge the cultural identity.
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How would you identify yourself?
Cecia,
You gave a great response to the question!
With that being said, if someone asks you if you are Latina or Hispanic, what would you say?
Neither, both?
Lorena Nunez
Idenfiying yourself.
Hi Lorena,
I speak spanish, so I must belong to the braket of the spanish speaker population. IMO, I think the correct way to express is Hispano-parlante or hispano-hablante, because we are refering to the language not the nationality. Race, as we saw it's far more complicated, but we don't want to go there yet, then many of us would be simply "mestizos/as" and the classification of what modern "mestizaje" you have would be pretty long.
I will say my answer is Hispanic. I speak no latin, "Pro optimo est minime malus". Well, just a couple phrases.
Good Point
You raise a very interesting point Cecilia. I guess I have never thought it that way. I also speak Spanish, not Latino, therefore, I wouldn't necessarily be Latina, I would technically be Hispano-Hablante.
Lorena Nunez
the issue is more of a technicality
consider the facts that Hispanic means a person who speaks Spanish and was born in what we call "Latin America", but the term "Hispanic" does not take into account that person's African or native background as well, therefore the term is exclusive in its nature and some people take offense to that fact because they feel their cultures are being diminished (somethig which has more to do with race than language).
Also consider the fact that "Latino" is a term which was invented in the United States by its government in the 1800s to refer to what we call "Latin American Countries".
Latina vs Hispanic, neither defines who I am.
I grew up being referred to as a Mexican-American, not Latina or Hispanic. As a teenager, the term Latino/a became popular and later the term Hispanic was introduced as the proper term for anyone of Mexican decent.
Actually, my mother was the only one of my parents born in Mexico and I, like my father, was born in the U.S. But, after some record searching, I recently discovered that both of my parents' last names come from towns in Spain. Like Alana, I'd like to know which iterm is correct, and if neither is correct then what is the correct term.
Hilaria
I'm a Latina
I have always considered myself to be a Latina. I have been taught that to say "Latina/o" means that our families came from a country in Latin America. To say Hispanic to me means that we are people who came from a country where Spanish is spoken.
Since I'm born in the US, but my parents came from Mexico, I consider myself to be a Latina.
Lorena Nunez
Latino vs Hispanic
I my self have always pondered the question and could only describe myself as Latino. I believe it gives us a global identity and helps us show how our culture is different from all the others. It is what we can say we are proud to be.
Thanks for the reply Esteban!!
I know, looks like we probably all have pondered the question! Thanks again for visiting my blog
Well my input on this topic
Well my input on this topic is that Hispanic comes from the term Hispanic America which includes all the American Spanish speaking countries which contrasts Latino America which includes the American countries that speak french and Portuguese, but in the end it all comes down to what you prefer.
Karl
Chicano
Here's a curve ball.. out here in the west coast i was brought up in a predominantely Mexican community. We were all from Mexico, so there was no differentiation between ethnic labels. As i grew older in high school and college there was a big push from people in organizations like Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlan (MEChA) to take the once negative identity of Chicano and turn it into something positive. Most Mexican-Americans i knew considered themselves Chicano, as I did. To me it was the definition for someone born in the US whose parents were born in Mexico. I continued to see more and more people use the term to identify themselves with the culture of being Chicano even if they werent 1st generation born in the US or even some people who are of different ethnic groups! The whole Chicano Movement has strong roots in Southern California and its legacy is still evident within our community so we chose to identify ourselves as Chicanos.
You're Chicano
So to you, the question isn't are you Latino or Hispanic, it's are you Chicano?
That is what you identify yourself with correct?
I know what Chicano is because I have read and heard so much about it, but here in the Midwest, that term is very rarely used. I know it originated from California, but in my case, I couldn't identify myself as Chicana.
Do you think that the way we chose to identify ourselves depends on where we grew up?
Lorena Nunez
HI
Hi
Most definately!
Self identity is such a complex issue that people spend their whole lifetime trying to figure out. One of the key factors influencing our decision is definately our immediate surrouding. If you grow up in a community heavily populated with people who wear gorilla outfits, then you will wear a gorilla outfit. We are products of our surroundings. I do consider myself Chicano because i identify with the history, culture, and space encompassed by the name. Yes it originated in California, but even in my trips overseas there were people from other countries who considered themselves Chicano's.
We chose to identify ourselves with what we deem the most accurate representation of our individuality, whether that be a unique singular connotation or a more communitative plural form. It all depends on the individual..