Hispanic Culture and Literature in the U.S. SPN400

Objectives  To develop cultural competence on the various Latino/a populations  How identity is constructed through:  History  Politics  Arts  Media  To see interconnections between Latina American and issues  To gain a deeper understanding of ourselves

Objectives  Examine, through poetry, fiction, film, and essays, issues such as:  Race  Ethnicity  Language  Gender  Politics  Identity

 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: hispanic-origin-and-nativity/ hispanic-origin-and-nativity/  b. Hispanics and their views of identity:  c. Latinos by geography:  d. Latino youths optimistic but beset by problems: problems/ 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)

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.

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  pan-ethnic consciousness  It 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?

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? views-of-identity/

vs Latin American  How do they prefer to identify themselves?  It depends on the social environment and interactions  (pan-ethnic) (national origin)  It is important to know how society sees them

Some facts about  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

South Carolina 

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?  their-views-of-identity/ their-views-of-identity/ 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” ce.html ce.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 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 Why or Why not?