the bongobundos

Latin American

Hispanic vs. Latin American Identity

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Please, do read Carla’s post and Alex’ reply before going through this entry.

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Your discussion on Davis and Huntington's intromission into the definition of Latin America is very, very interesting and yet, more than falling for linguistic tricks, the main issue here is probably the identity trap towards which both writers, as well as a good part of the American society, seem to be pushing Latin Americans.

The American bunch that Huntington actually represents intend to differentiate, racially, the Caucasian U.S. citizens, treated here as the original core of the nation, from other races, explicitly or implicitly pointed out as aliens.

It is as such that the term Hispanic is coined out, precisely for the census, so as to bring a racial definition of the American-Indian/European mestizos of South America. In fact I wholeheartedly disagree with both of you if you do believe that most U.S. citizens -other than Latin Americans- would include Spaniards as Hispanics instead of as European Caucasians (well, take away those Americans who think Spain is somewhere close to Mexico...).

The Spanish speaking community might feel tempted to translate Hispanic as a linguistic description of a people but the fact is that it is not so for most English speaking Americans. Even the Spanish word Hispano does resonate as clearly American and not as European or Spanish related -no matter its etymology here. Only translating Hispanic as “Comunidad Hispana” (Spanish Speaking Community) could we be able to include Spain in the lot and yet this does not seem to be Davis’ intention.

The aim is to confound, thus using the same word with two different meanings; Hispanic meaning the “Spanish speaking community” for Latin Americans, while the same word is understood just as a racial description of Latins for those who do not speak Spanish. Latin Americans will tend to use this seeming neutral term, Hispanic, while feeling hesitant or even embarrassed to describe themselves as Latinos. Latin identity is thus tightened, menaced inadvertently by those who should protect their own heritage, while the spread of use of ‘Hispanic’ contributes to a further confusion and segregation of Latin Americans in the U.S..

Davis' problem with the term Latin American comes from this being a cultural definition; a lax, hardly describable identity with no racial or even linguistic frontiers, that grows as a shared feeling of pride and 'belonging'; as such it can hardly be used as a differentiating factor, for this identity is not exclusive, as Carla points out, and can easily be made to fit and be shared with other identities such as being a U.S. citizen for instance.

On the other hand being Hispanic is obviously more gringo-friendly for this (racial) group can immediately and easily be excluded from the privileged elite of white Caucasians and their inherited and 'well-earned' rights; while Latin Americans can -scarily enough- claim to be wholly Americans, Hispanics, as obvious aliens, cannot.

Once racial boundaries have been more clearly set, imposing the term 'Hispanic' over the wider one 'Latin American', Davis and the like accept as a matter of fact that the Hispanic race they have come to define do share the Spanish language, which is an over simplification after all (or maybe not; I wonder if Davis does include Brazilians among Hispanics). In any case this just looks like one step further towards diminishing or narrowing the Latin American original definition.

No matter what, it is fear which seems to lie at the bottom of Davis and Huntington's racial and linguistic reduction of the Latin American identity and its ever empowering influence in the U.S.; the fear of white (Protestant) Caucasians losing the privileges they have come to assume as a-matter-of-fact in North America.

It is from this point of view that the intent to marginalize the Spanish language in the U.S. can be understood as a wider attempt to do away with Latin American identity, so frightening for Davis and Huntington's gang not only within U.S. boundaries but also on the wider picture of an international ground.

World Champs!

Just too bad we couldn't blast US on this World Championship final, but well, we had to do away with Greece. We had played the real final before anyway, against Argentina; what a game!

I have kept cautiosly silent about the whole tournament this time, a bit afraid of becoming a bad luck token or something after the disastrous experience at the World Cup... and it seems to have worked out well (just in case I have decided not to write anything about the peace process in Lebanon either, and scarily enough it seems to work as well).

But for today we are the World Champs, baby!

Yes, Spain is Different... and we've got the Gold!

PS FELICIDADES BRO!!