Hispanic Culture and Literature in the U.S.SPN400

Objectives

To develop cultural competence on the various Latino/a populations How Latin@ identity is constructed through:

HistoryPoliticsArtsMedia

To see interconnections between Latina American and Latin@ issues

To gain a deeper understanding of ourselves

Objectives

Examine, through poetry, fiction, film, and essays, issues such as:RaceEthnicityLanguageGenderPoliticsIdentity

What comes to mind when you hear the terms “Latino/a” or “Hispanic”?

What experiences have you had with the Latino or Hispanic community?

What would you like to gain from this course?

Homework for Thursday 26th

(1)  Study data by PEW Research Center:  Hispanic origin and nativity: 

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/06/19/infographic-hispanic-origin-and-nativity/

b.    Hispanics and their views of identity: http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/05/30/hispanics-and-their-views-of-identity/

c.     Latinos by geography: http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/03/16/latinos-by-geography/

d.    Latino youths optimistic but beset by problems: http://www.pewhispanic.org/2009/12/11/latino-youths-optimistic-but-beset-by-problems/

(2) Write a one page paragraph summary highlighting the main points of the PEW data

What’s in a name?HISPANIC OR LATINO/A?

Latin American (latinoamericano / latinoamericana)

Descendants from Spain + Amerindians

+ Africans

19 Latin American countries and 1

commonwealth (Puerto Rico)

www.borgenmagazine.com

Latin America

Strong national identities:

Cuba = cubanos

Mexico = mexicanos

Puerto Rico = puertorriqueños

Hispanic: Where does this term come from?

Derived from España / Hispania; Conquest of the “New World”

Hispanics =

Census Bureau also includes Spanish Americans (Spain) and Brazilian-Americans (Brazil)

as Hispanics.

U.S. citizens and residents who originated from Latin America

Hispanicity (U.S. Government)

According to the U.S. Government (1976), Hispanics are :

“Americans of Spanish origin or descent...who identify themselves as being of Spanish-speaking background and trace their origin or descent from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America and other Spanish-speaking countries.” 

Hispanicity (Pew Research Center)

Two approaches:(1)  Hispanic or Latino: a member of an ethnic

group that tracks his/her origin to 20 Spanish-speaking, Latin American nations and Spain (not Portugal or Brazil).

(2) Anyone who says they are.http://www.pewhispanic.org/2009/05/28/whos-hispanic/

Hispanic

U.S. bureaucratic government census term

diverse ethnic group in the U.S.

united by the Spanish language (for the sake of

simplicity)

solidarity

Latino or Latina (Latino/a or Latin@)

pan-ethnic consciousnessIt includes Hispanics You can be Latino, but not necessarily

Hispanic (Brazilian-Americans)

Hispanic vs Latino/a Debate

“Hispanic is English for a person of Latino origin who wants to be accepted

by the white status quo” —Sandra Cisneros, New York Times

“Latino” might refer to an even older empire (Roman)

What about all those countries of Latin descent?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRbCvyxMeNI

Based on the Pew Research Center data:

How does this community prefer to describe

themselves?

Do they prefer to be called Latino or Hispanic?

Does this community feel that they share a common

culture?

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/05/30/hispanics-and-their-views-of-identity/

Hispanic/Latin@ vs Latin American

How do they prefer to identify themselves? It depends on the social environment and interactions Hispanic/Latin@ Argentinean

(pan-ethnic) (national origin)

It is important to know how society sees them

Some facts about Latin@s:

largest minority in the U.S. (54 million)

large immigration (17.5% of pop.)

tendency to have large families (2.5 children per family vs 1.8)

Triple in size by 2050

Who are the largest subgroup of Latinos?

Mexicans, followed by Puerto Ricans and Cubans

Fastest growth comes from Central and South America

Origins and Current Residency

Where do Latinos mainly live in the U.S.?

California, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Arizona, New York and New Jersey

Nowadays: Other states, including North Carolina

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/03/16/latinos-by-geography/

South Carolina

http://www.pewhispanic.org/states/state/sc/

Demystifying Information

Most Latinos/as are U.S. citizens

Small minority are legal resident aliens (green cards)

Unknown are undocumented:

nearly half of this population originates from Mexico

workers who slip across the Mexico-U.S. border to earn a measly

amount in fields and factories

they send the money back home to keep their families afloat

Do most Latinos believe they share a common culture?

How do Latinos classify themselves racially?

How do Latinos classify themselves ethnically?

http://www.pewhispanic.org/2012/05/30/hispanics-and-their-vi

ews-of-identity

/

Questions: According to the PEW…

Questions: According to the PEW…

Do Latinos think of themselves as typical Americans?

Do Latinos think that they should learn and speak English in order to succeed in the U.S.?

Census Bureau: Problematic

In 2000: In 2010: Mexican Mexican Puerto Rican Puerto Rican Cuban Cuban Hispanic (other) Another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin

+ write-in answer to provide with specific origin

Race, Ethnicity and Ethnorace

Read article by Linda Martin Alcoff: “Latinos and the Categories of Race” http://www.alcoff.com/content/chap10latrace.html

Write down responses for the following questions related to Alcoff’s article

Key Concepts:

Diaspora: dispersion of a group of people from their original home

Race: mode of identification based on physical visible markers (really?)

Ethnicity: shared cultural practices, customs, history, religion, and language

Key Concepts:

Cultural Homogeneity: a culture without diversity

Cultural Heterogeneity: a culture with diversity Hegemony:

dominance of one state/country/group over another (it can be cultural, political or economical)

to convince society to believe in a current power structure

Key Concepts:

Discourse: a speech/essay about a topic that requires thoughts and ideas structured in an orderly fashion

Global North vs Global South: a socio-economic-political divide between the North (North America/Western Europe/East Asia) the South (Africa, Latin America, parts of Asia/Middle East)

Introduction

Understanding that Latinos are a diverse group, could “Latino” be a meaningful identity term to use? In what sense?

What are the three questions that Alcoff is trying to address in this article?

Part I. Three options

Does the author believe that Latinos fit into the North American racialized identities (White/Black/Native American)? Why or why not?

How do Latin Americans immigrating to the U.S. resolve the race identification issue?

Part IV. Latin American Identities

Do Latin Americans have a consistent theory of ethnic or racial identity? Whether yes or no, how so? Name an example.

According to Alcoff, how is the term “Hispanic” interpreted in different parts of the United States?

Part VII: Ethnorace

What is ethnorace? Why does Alcoff think this might solve the issue with Latin@ identification?

What can we learn from the “Black Identity” or “Blackness” approach for identifying a group of individuals?

According to Alcoff, could we use the “Blackness” approach to help construct an identity for Latin@s? Why or Why not?