Hispanic

Related Topics:
Hispanic_and_Latino :: Hispanic_Studies :: Hispanic :: Hispanic_Heritage_Month :: Hispanic_American

Hispanic (Spanish: Hispano) is a term denoting a derivation from Spain, its people and culture. It follows the same style of use as Anglo indicates a derivation of England and the English. Thus, the Spanish-American War in Spanish is known as Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense, the "Spanish-German Treaty" is Tratado Hispano-Alemán, and "Spanish America" is Hispanoamérica.

As used in the United States, Hispanic is one of several terms employed to categorize all persons whose ancestry hails either from the people of Spain, any of the various peoples of Spanish-speaking Latin America, or the original settlers of the traditionally Spanish-held Southwestern United States. The term is used as a broad form of classification in the U.S. census, local and federal employment, and numerous business market researches.

In Spain, Spanish-speaking Latin America and most countries outside the United States, Hispanic/Hispano is not commonly employed as an indicator of ancestry, however, this can be implied depending on the context. When used in this manner, in Spanish-speaking Latin America an Hispano is commonly regarded to be any person whose ancestry stems, in whole or in part, from the people of Spain — to the contrast of the non-Hispanic (ie. non-Spanish descended) population. In this sense, when speaking of a nation's Hispanic population, those who are implied are Spaniards, criollos, mestizos, and mulattos, to the exclusion of indigenous Amerindians, unmixed descendants of black African slaves or other non-Spanish descended peoples who may reside in each respective country, regardless of whether they now use Spanish as their first and only language.

The term "Hispanic"

Etymology

Etymologically, the term Hispano/Hispanic is derived from Hispania, the name given by the Romans to the entire Iberian Peninsula — modern-day Spain and Portugal — during the period of the Roman Republic. Historically, however, Hispanic/Hispano has only ever applied to Spain and things related to her, while a derivation from or relation to Portugal and its people is denominated Luso/Lusitanic.

The usage of Hispanic as an ethnic indicator in the United States is believed to have come into mainstream prominence following its inclusion in a question in the 1980 U.S. Census, which asked people to voluntarily identify if they were of "Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent".

Synonyms and antonyms

Often the term "Hispanic" is used synonymously with the word "Latino", and frequently with "Latin" as well. Even though the terms may sometimes overlap in meaning, they are not completely synonymous.

Latin in this context refers to "Latin America," a term introduced by the French in the 1860s when they dreamed of building an empire based in Mexico. It was closely connected to the introduction of French positivism into Latin American intellectual circles. ^* The French correctly understood "Latin" to include themselves and exclude the "Anglo-Saxons" of the U.S. and the U.K.

"Hispanic", on the other hand, specifically refers to Spain, and to the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas as cultural and demographic extensions of Spain.

Meanwhile, Latinos are only those from the countries of Latin America, whether Spanish, Portuguese, or Creole-speaking, though in the latter case, not so frequently and with some ambiguities.

The confusion that arises is from the similarity between the words Latino and Latin, and between the concept of Hispanic and Latino. Latino is a shortened version of the noun Latinoamérica (Latin America). In the Spanish language "Latín" (Latin) is the name of the language of the Romans. This means that "Latin" is not confined solely to Hispanics and/or Latinos, and has always included such people as the Italians, French, Romanians, Portuguese, etc.

Thus, of a group consisting of a Brazilian, a Colombian, a Mexican, a Spaniard, and a Romanian; the Brazilian, Colombian, and Mexican would all be Latinos, but not the Spaniard or the Romanian, since neither Spain nor Romania are geographically situated in Latin America. Conversely, the Colombian, Mexican and Spaniard would all be Hispanics, but not the Brazilian or the Romanian, since Brazil was colonized by the Portuguese, and neither Portugal nor Romania are extensions of Spain. Finally, all of the above nationalities would all be Latin, including the Romanian.

It should be noted that "Latino" is very rarely applied to French-speaking Québec in Canada, and almost never to Haiti. The categories of "Latino" and "Hispanic" are used primarily in the United States to socially differentiate people. As social categories they are not mutually exclusive and without ambiguities and cannot be seen as independent of social discrimination (socio-economic, ethnic or racial).

Aside from "Hispanic", "Latino", and "Latin", other terms are used for more specific subsets of the Hispanic population. These terms often relate to specific countries of origin, such as "Mexican", "Mexican-American", "Cuban", "Puerto Rican" or "Dominican", etc. Other terms signify distinct cultural patterns among Hispanics which have emerged in what is now the United States, including "Chicano", "Tejano", "Nuyorican", etc.

"Hispanic" as a U.S. ethnic label

In the United States, some people consider "Hispanic" to be too general as a label, while others consider it offensive, often preferring to use the term "Latino", which is viewed as a self-chosen label. The preference of "Latino" over "Hispanic" is partly because it more clearly indicates that those it is referring to are the people from Latin America (including Brazil) and not Spain. Different labels prevail in different regions, as well. In places like Arizona and California, the Chicanos are proud of their personal association and their participation in the agricultural movement of the 1960s with César Chávez, that brought attention to the needs of the farm workers. Usually younger Hispanics will not refer to themselves as such, however.

Previously Hispanics were commonly referred to as "Spanish-Americans", "Spanish-speaking Americans", and "Spanish-surnamed Americans". These terms, however, proved even more misleading or inaccurate since:

Most U.S. Hispanics were not born in Spain, nor were most born to recent Spanish nationals;
Although most U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish, not all do, and though most Spanish-speaking people are Hispanic, not all are (e.g., many U.S. Hispanics by the fourth generation no longer speak Spanish, while there are some non-Hispanics of the Southwestern United States that may be fluent in the language), and;
Although most Hispanics have a Spanish surname, not all do, and while most Spanish-surnamed people are Hispanic, not all are (e.g., there are tens of millions of Spanish-surnamed Filipinos, but very few, only about 3.5%, would qualify as Hispanic by ancestry).

Criticism of application

One vociferous critic of "Hispanic", as it is used in the United States, has been the Mexica Movement — an indigenous rights and education organization. Their central criticism of the label "Hispanic" is that its rationale is eurocentric and inconsistent with the rationale for labeling other groups, including:

Native Americans in the United States, most of whom also have European bloodlines — often predominatly — carry English surnames and are overwhelmingly monolingual English-speakers, yet are not labeled "Anglo".
African-Americans, few of whom do not have some European ancestry, carry British surnames and speak the English language, but are not labeled "Anglo."
Métis of Canada, who are mixed-blood people of French and Amerindian descent, are largely monolingual speakers of English or French, and again are not labeled "Anglo" or "Franco" and have in fact been recognized as Aboriginal peoples in Canada under Canadian law.
Filipinos, who were also colonized by Spain for over 3 centuries, bear many traces of Spanish culture, and often carry Spanish surnames, and are never labeled "Hispanic".

The Mexica Movement asserts that most people of Mexican or Central American descent are indigenous Amerindians (whether mixed-blooded or full-blooded) who have been made to speak a European language as a conseqence of the Spanish colonization of the Americas commencing in 1492. The organization has popularized the slogan "Not Hispanic! Not Latino!" through a t-shirt line of clothing and self-published materials. It should to be noted that their ideology is embraced by very few of the people they purport to represent.

The use in the United States of America of "Hispanic" present the same dilemma as the use of Anglo when referring to people of non-hispanic white descent. Not all Hispanic are descendants of spaniards and not all Anglos are actually descendants of English people, let alone from the Angles themselves.

Hispanics in the United States

Demographics

Hispanics constitute the largest minority group in the United States. As of July 1, 2004, Hispanics accounted for 14.1 % of the population, around 41.3 million people. Hispanic growth rate over the July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2004 period was of 3.6 % - higher than any other ethnic group in the United States, and in fact more than three times the rate of the nation's total population (at 1.0 %). The projected Hispanic population of the United States for July 1, 2050, is of 102.6 million people. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 24% of the nation’s total population on that date. ^*

Of the nation's total Hispanic population, 49% lives in California or Texas. Not counting Puerto Rico — which is a territorial possession of the United States — New Mexico is the state with the highest proportion of Hispanics, where 43% is of Hispanic-origin. The proportion of Hispanics in the states of California and Texas exceed 35% each.

The Hispanic population of Los Angeles County, California--numbering over 4.6 million--is the largest of any county in the nation. Meanwhile, for the 2000 to 2004 period, Lee County, Florida had the fastest growth rate in Hispanic population of any other county in the United States. [http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060309/NEWS01/603090396/1075

Some 64% of the nation's Hispanic population are of Mexican or Mexican-American background. Another approximately 10% are of Puerto Rican background, with about 3% each of Cuban, Salvadoran and Dominican origins. The remainder are of some other Central American, South American or other Hispanic or Latino origins. ^*

The overwhelming majority of Hispanics of Mexican/Mexican-American origin are concentrated in the Southwestern United States, primarily California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The majority of the Hispanic population in the Southeastern United States, concentrated in Florida, are of Cuban origin. The Hispanic population in the Northeastern United States, concentrated in New York and New Jersey, is composed mostly of Puerto Ricans, however, the Dominican population has risen considerably in the last decade, especially in proportion to that region's Hispanic population. The remainder of other Hispanics, composed of various Central American and South American origins, may be found throughout the country, though South Americans tend to concentrate on the East Coast of the United States (joining Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans) and Central Americans on the West Coast of the United States (joining Mexicans/Mexican Americans). There are few immigrants from Spain due to its economical growth, they do not regard themselves with the term Hispan as used in the United States.

Political trends

Hispanics differ on their political views. For example, many Cubans and Colombians tend to favor conservative political ideologies and support the Republicans, while Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans lean more towards the Democrats; however, because the latter groups are far more numerous (Mexicans alone are nearly 60% of Hispanics), the Democratic Party is considered to be in a far stronger position among Hispanics overall. In the past two national election cycles, however, the Presidency of George W. Bush has had a significant impact on the political leanings of Hispanic Americans. As a former Governor of Texas, President Bush has regarded the growing Hispanic community as a potential source of growth for the conservative and/or Republican movement--particularly because of the Catholic and more conservative social values that many Hispanic Americans share with the conservative element of the American political system. The U.S. Census indicates that the Hispanic population of the United States is the fastest growing minority in the country, and will hold considerable political clout within the next 50 years. Some political organizations associated with Hispanic Americans are LULAC, the United Farm Workers and the Cuban American National Foundation.

Bush has made for some gains with the Republican Party among Hispanics. For example, in the 1996 presidential election, 72% of Hispanics backed President Clinton, but in 2000, that Democratic total fell to 62%, and down further to 58% in 2004, with Democrat John Kerry winning Hispanics 58-40 over Bush.

It also breaks down interestingly by state. Hispanics in the West, especially in California, were much stronger for the Democratic Party than in Texas and Florida. California Latinos voted 63-32 for John Kerry in 2004, and both Arizona and New Mexico Latinos by a smaller 56-43 margin, but Texas Latinos were split nearly evenly, and Florida Latinos (mostly being Cubans) actually backed President Bush by a 56-44 margin.

Cultural trends

Popular culture varies widely from one Hispanic community to another, despite this, several features tend to unite Hispanics from diverse backgrounds. Many Hispanics, including U.S.-born second and third generation Hispanics, use the Spanish language to varying degrees. The most usual pattern is monolingual Spanish usage among new immigrants or older foreign born Hispanics, complete bilingualism among long settled immigrants and their children, and the use of Spanglish and colloquial Spanish within long established Hispanic communities by the third generation and beyond. In some families the children and grandchildren of immigrants speak mostly English with some Spanish words and phrases thrown in.

Also see: Association of Hispanic Arts

Media

The United States is home to thousands of Spanish language media outlets ranging in size from giant commercial broadcasting networks and major Hispanic-oriented periodicals with circulations numbering in the millions, to low-power AM radio stations with listeners numbering in the hundreds. There are hundreds of online media outlets targeting US Hispanic audiences, some of which are online versions of their printed counterparts and others online exclusively.

In the aspect of public television, otherwise known as non-commercial television, there are organizations that advocate a greater degree of programming from a Hispanic-American perspective in public television. One of the most prominent of these groups is Latino Public Broadcasting which funds programs of educational and cultural significance to Hispanic-Americans. These LPB-funded projects are distributed to various public television stations throughout the United States.

Noteworthy Spanish-language media outlets include:

Univision and Telemundo, respectively the first and second largest Spanish-language television networks in the United States, each with affiliates in nearly every major U.S. market, including numerous affiliates internationally.
El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language daily newspaper serving the greater Miami, Florida market.
Vida Latina, a Spanish-language entertainment magazine distributed throughout the Southern United States.

Racial diversity

Even outside the broad US definition of Hispanic, the term encompasses a very racially diverse population, often making efforts toward creating a Pan-Hispanic sense of identity difficult. While in the United States, Hispanics are often treated as a group apart from whites, blacks or other races, they actually include people who may identify with any or all of those racial groups.

In the mass media as well as popular culture, "Hispanic" is often incorrectly used to physically describe a subject's race or appearance. In general, Hispanics are assumed to have traits such as dark hair and eyes, and tan or brown skin. Many others are viewed as physically intermediate between whites and Amerindians or blacks.

Hispanics with mostly Caucasoid or Negroid features may not be recognized as such in spite of the ethnic and racial diversity of most Latin American populations. People of Spanish or Latin American ancestry who do not "look Hispanic" may have their ethnic status questioned or even challenged by others. Actors Cameron Diaz (Cuban-American) and Alfonso Ribeiro (Dominican-American), for example, are both Hispanic, even though they may be presumed not to be so because they do not fit the stereotype, the former being white and the latter black.

A great proportion of Hispanics identify as mestizo (mixed European and Amerindian), regardless of national origin. This is largely because most Hispanics are from Latin America, and much of Latin America is of mestizo descent. Mestizos constitute majority populations in most Latin American countries. Some "Hispanics" (based on the U.S. definition) may also be of unmixed Native American ancestry, many of those from Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru—where they constitute a majority or plurality of the population—and a considerable proportion of those from Mexico. Many other Hispanics may be of unmixed Spanish ancestry, primarily, besides Spaniards, those from Cuba, Uruguay and Argentina. In the latter two countries, most people of Spanish descent are of Basque or Galician origin, their ancestors having migrated during the wars of the 19th and 20th century, including the Spanish Civil War.

Additionally, most Argentines and Uruguayans, labeled as "Hispanics" by the U.S. definition may trace their ancestries to other European countries, including Argentine- and Uruguayan-Italians (around one third of their countries' populations) and Argentines and Uruguayans of other European origins, such as German, Irish, French, Polish etc. (around another third of the population of Argentina and a considerable amount of the Uruguayan population).

While many "Hispanics" born in or having ancestral ties to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Colombia are blacks of African descent, some, like many in the US, are slightly mixed mulattoes.

Whether a country is predominantly white (like Argentina), black (like the Dominican Republic) or native/mestizo (like Mexico), all Latin-American countries have minorities of other ethnicities. Some have a considerable minority of people from the Middle East or East Asia.

Religious diversity

With regard to religious affiliation among Hispanics, Christianity — specifically Roman Catholicism — is usually the first religious tradition that springs to mind. Indeed, the Spaniards took the Roman Catholic faith to Latin America, and Roman Catholicism continues to be the largest, but not the only, religious denomination amongst most Hispanics. A significant number of Hispanics are also Protestant, and several Protestant denominations (particularly Evangelical ones) have vigorously proselytized in Hispanic communities.

There are also Hispanic Jews, of which most are the descendants of Ashkenazi Jews who migrated from Europe (German Jews, Russian Jews, Polish Jews, etc.) to Latin America, particularly Argentina, in the 19th century and during and following WWII, and from there to the United States. Some Hispanic Jews may also originate from the small communities of reconverted descendants of anusim — those whose Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Jewish ancestors long ago hid their Jewish ancestry and beliefs in fear of persecution by the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition in the Iberian peninsula and Latin America. There are also the now Catholic-professing descendants of marranos and the Hispano crypto-Jews believed to exist in the once Spanish-held Southwestern United States and scattered through Latin America. Additionally, there are Sephardic Jews who are descendants of those Jews who fled Spain to Turkey, Syria, and North Africa, some of who have now migrated to Latin American, holding on to some Spanish/Sephardic customs, such as the language Ladino. (See also History of the Jews in Latin America and List of Latin American Jews.)

Among the Hispanic Catholics, most communities celebrate their homeland's patron saint, dedicating a day for this purpose with festivals and religious services. Some Hispanics syncretize Roman Catholicism and African or Native American rituals and beliefs. Such is the case of Santería in Cuba and Puerto Rico, which combines old African beliefs in the form of Roman Catholic saints and rituals; or Guadalupism (the devotion towards Our Lady of Guadalupe) among Mexican Roman Catholics. This latter hybridizes Catholic rites for the virgin Mary with those venerating the Aztec goddess Tonantzin (earth goddess, mother of the gods and protector of humanity) and has all her attributes also endowed to the Lady of Guadalupe, whose Catholic shrine stands on the same sacred Aztec site that had previously been dedicated to Tonatzín, on the hill of Tepeyac.

While a tiny minority, there is also a growing number of Hispanic Muslims. In Latin America, this may be the result of either locals intermarrying with recent Muslim immigrants or independent conversions to Islam, .

Music

Folk and popular dance and music also varies greatly among Hispanics. While many people speak of "Latin" music as a single genre, Latin America is home to a wide variety of music. Hispanic Caribbean music tends to favor complex polyrhythms of African origin. Mexican music shows combined influences of mostly Spanish and Native American origin; although African influences are strong along Mexico's Caribbean coast, while traditional Northern Mexican music and the music of Mexican-Americans — norteño, banda, and tejano music — is more influenced by country-and-western music and the polka, brought by central European settlers to Texas. Meanwhile, native Andean sounds and melodies are the backbone of Peruvian and Bolivian music, but also play a significant role in the popular music of most South American countries and are heavily incorporated into the folk music of Ecuador and Chile and the tunes of Colombia, and again in Chile where they play a fundamental role in the form of the greatly followed nueva canción. Latin pop, rock and ballad styles tend to appeal to the broader Hispanic population, and varieties of Cuban music are popular with many Hispanics of all backgrounds.

There is a huge variety of literature from the Hispanic countries and US Hispanics.

Cuisine

There is also no single stereotypical Hispanic cuisine. Traditional Mexican, Cuban and Puerto Rican, Spanish, Argentinian, and Peruvian cooking, for example, all vary greatly from each other, and take on new forms in the United States. While Mexican cuisine is the most familiar variety of "Hispanic food" in most of the United States, it is not representative of the cuisine of most other Hispanics.

The cuisine of Mexico can be heavily dependent on staples such as maize, beans, chile peppers and is greatly indebted to the cuisine and diet of the Aztec and Maya. Cuba and Puerto Rico, on the other hand, may be dependent on starchy root vegetables, plantain and rice and is influenced by the flavors of Africa. The cuisine of Spain often mirrors the cuisines of its Mediterranean neighbors, and in addition to the abundance of olives, olive oil, tomatoes, seafood and meats, other foreign influences, such as the use of saffron, were introduced during the spice trade. Meanwhile, Argentina relies almost exclusively on red meats, consuming almost everything derived from beef, and is heavily influenced by Italian cuisine. In Peruvian cuisine guinea pigs are popular as a source of meat (derived from the diet of the Inca) and staples indigenous to the region, such as maize and the myriad of potato varieties, are the most utilized there. Rice also plays an important role in Peruvian cuisine.

This diversity in staples and cuisine is also evident in the differing regional cuisines within the national borders of the individual countries. Most groceries in heavily Hispanic areas carry a wide array of specialty Latin American products, in addition to the widely available brands of tortillas and Mexican style salsa.

Symbols

Flag

While relatively unknown, there is a flag representing the countries of Hispanic America, its people, history and shared cultural legacy.

It was created in October of 1933 by Ángel Camblor, captain of the Uruguayan army. It was adopted by all the states of Latin America during La Conferencia Panamericana (The Pan-American Conference) held that same year in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The white background stands for peace, the Inti (sun god in Inca mythology) symbolizes the light shining on the American continent, and the three crosses represent Christopher Columbus' caravels (the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María ships used in his first voyage from Spain to the New World in 1492). The lilac color of the crosses evokes the Castilian banner.

Hymn

Himno de las Américas

(R. Sciamarella)

Un canto de amistad, de buena vecindad,

unidos nos tendrá eternamente.

Por nuestra libertad, por nuestra lealtad

debemos de vivir gloriosamente.

Un símbolo de paz alumbrará el vivir

de todo el Continente Americano.

Fuerza de Optimismo, fuerza de la hermandad

será este canto de buena vecindad.

Argentina, Brasil y Bolivia,

Colombia, Chile y Ecuador,

Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela,

Guatemala y El Salvador,

Costa Rica, Haití y Nicaragua,

Honduras y Panamá,

Norteamérica, México y Perú,

Cuba y Canadá:

¡Son hermanos soberanos de la libertad!

Hymn of the Americas

(translation)

A song of friendship, of good neighborhood,

will unite us eternally.

For our liberty, for our loyalty,

we must live gloriously.

A symbol of peace will illuminate the life

of all the American Continent.

A force of Optimism, a force of brotherhood

shall be this song of good neighborhood.

Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia,

Colombia, Chile and Ecuador,

Uruguay, Paraguay, and Venezuela,

Guatemala and El Salvador,

Costa Rica, Haiti and Nicaragua,

Honduras and Panama,

North America, Mexico and Peru,

Cuba and Canada:

They are sovereign brothers of freedom!

In an alternate version, the countries are re-arranged, "Canadá" is removed (as the already mentioned "Norteamérica" implies both the United States and Canada), and "Santo Domingo" (i.e. Dominican Republic) is added instead.