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Author
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Topic: What is Latino?
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peace
Knowflake Posts: 13
From: Las Vegas,NV
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted September 16, 2009 05:33 PM
 
My Mexican friend told me than he's Spanish not Latino,so what is considered Latino?Thanks,
Peace 
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katatonic
Knowflake Posts: 1708
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted September 16, 2009 08:51 PM
sounds like where your friend comes from latino means mixed race, not overtly spanish but indian too?where i live latino is anyone with hispanic blood ie spanish and/or spanish/mixed - who was born in the americas. true LATINS are from europe...like spain, italy, france... IP: Logged |
Eleanore
Moderator Posts: 46
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted September 16, 2009 10:41 PM
All the terminology is technically incorrect. As katatonic pointed out, people apply different meanings and Latino should technically refer to Latins ie those who speak languages evolved from latin which would include spanish, french, italian, portugese and romanian. However, people don't really seem to follow that rule. Spanish should technically mean Spaniard but has, ime, been applied as a distinction between Central/South Americans and Carribeans who wish to distinguish themselves as more Spaniard than mixed blood ... which is, imo, absurd as there are so few "pure blood" people in the first place. Others simply mean to say all those who speak spanish when they refer to Spanish people. Hispanic is also technically incorrect as it originated from the island of Hispaniola, comprised of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. This is what happens when people try to umbrella so many different cultures under one name because of one thing they have in common, in this case language. The same thing has happened with folks in Africa. People call them Africans as though that means something more than that they share a continent, nevermind the vastly diverse cultures and languages, etc. that continue to exist. And, yes, this is a thorn (albeit a tiny one) in my side. Being of Mexican and Cuban descent and growing up with so many different nationalities around me, I find the attempt to sandwich us all together just because we speak spanish plainly ridiculous. But, that's just the way it is, at least for now.  IP: Logged |
Dervish
Knowflake Posts: 261
From:
Registered: May 2009
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posted September 16, 2009 10:54 PM
My Mexican friend who lives in a border town explained to me at length about how Mexico defines the races and ethnic groups. Let's see...The phrase Mexicans have for Chicanos is, "Ni de aqui, ni de alla" (Neither from here nor from there). They are a subculture as different from Mexicans as they are from Americans. Many of them are at least 3rd generation American citizens and keep traditions from Mexico that are at least 50 years out of date, about the same amount of time they have been out of touch with actual Mexican traditions. They usually feel just as lost in Mexico as anyone else from the USA, or even more so, since the moment they step foot into Mexico for the first time they realize that they hardly speak the same language, anymore. We'd call it "spanglish", Mexicans call it "pocho". And the further away you are from the border towns, the harder it is to understand it, anyway. Latinos come from every country in the world that speaks a language derived from Romance languages. It has nothing to do with race. Italian is Latino as, say, Brazilians. In time it has sort of become a blanket term for all the citizens of the Americas who are not white and not native English speakers. Also, in certain countries in the Americas is considered a derogatory term. 'Course the different countries don't like being lumped together, either. Hispanics are descendants of Spaniards, and that's about it. Again, nothing to do with race. Mexicans often identify with being Hispanic as opposed to Latinos or Chicanos. As much as they tried to distance themselves from Spain, it's still considered their motherland. It's interesting to me just how subjective "important factors" like race really are, showing they're only important because we, as a culture, choose to make it so. IP: Logged |
katatonic
Knowflake Posts: 1708
From:
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted September 17, 2009 01:17 AM
when i was growing up it was considered okay to describe a person by where they came from, as in puerto rican, chinese, irish, etc. it was considered rude to use the sort of names that divided people into classes, or colours. just my upbringing. with world travel as prevalent as it is today, things are much more mixed up. some people like to pretend they are "pure" something, but it's a losing battle as far as i can tell!IP: Logged | |
Lindaland
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