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Well, Latin strictly speaking refers to people of Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French ancestry - plus I believe Albanians, Corsicans, maybe Maltese? maybe Cape Verdeans? and some others as well.
Latin America, strictly speaking, includes French Canada and the French islands of the Caribbean.
Hispanoamerica includes Mexico and lands south, but not Brazil (Brazil is not a Hispanic country).
Iberoamerica adds Brazil.
Mexicans, just like Cubans, Canadians, and Americans, can be white, black, Asian, or of mixed races without a predominant race ("mestizo").
I have known a lot of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. I have not known any who wanted to be called "Spanish". However, I have lived most of my life in Texas, where the Mexicans were there before the Anglos (and that's usually not accurate either, but we'll let it stand right now). In other parts of the country where people of Mexican ancestry are not populous, they may want to be called "Spanish" for their own reasons.
I just started a new job here in Milwaukee a few weeks ago. One of my coworkers, in the course of a conversation about tacos, referred to some of her family members as Spanish. I asked her if they were from Spain, and she replied "No, they just prefer to be referred to as Spanish rather than Mexican."
She has a German sounding last name. Maybe they’re in-laws or something. I think she’s confused.
Is it possible said folks are from the Interior West, i.e., Colorado, New Mexico (a big can of worms in itself), etc? Don't some Puerto Ricans claim "Spanish" as well?
In Colorado, we have a lot of people who you could peg as "Mexican" (have Mestizo features, some Native American ancestry, Spanish surnames, etc.), who in fact are not Mexican, but in theory, they technically could be, but won't/don't admit it, or don't claim it.
Most people who would consider themselves Mexican, or of Mexican Ancestry would have come to the US during or after the Mexican Revolution. Californios, Hispanos, Tejanos, and their descendants, many of whom would have been under the rule of Mexico at one point, tend to not claim any Mexican ancestry, but instead refer to themselves as "Spanish" or just "Hispanic".
The current definition of "Mexican" only refers to the current borders. Many now-Hispanos migrated to CO/NM (or even other SW states) from Mexico while it was still under Spanish rule. Hence them being "Spanish", as opposed to Mexican.
My own family (parts of both sides) came to the US from Mexico in the first quarter of the 20th century. One branch did have Spanish ancestry, but came here from Mexico, where they had been for some time. I myself have a hard time claiming any Spanish ancestry, Spain is just as foreign a land to me as France is, but Mexico seems/feels more intimately familiar.
All this being said, they are probably just trying to distance themselves from illegals.
I've met a few. You have to remember that before the US was a country, there were 3 European nations exploring it a great deal - Britain, France & Spain. All 3 received land grants from areas their nations claimed. There are plenty of original Spanish families living in the US and Mexico. They do make the distinction of being Spanish - from Spain, as opposed to also having Native and African and even British ancestry as well.
It basicly means they have kept records, and can trace their ancestry back to somewhere in Spain. I have met people that were obviously Mexican that also claimed to be Spanish and not Mexican. It came across to me like part of a class system, and claiming to be Spanish was somehow at the top of the heap for this system.
I've met a few. You have to remember that before the US was a country, there were 3 European nations exploring it a great deal - Britain, France & Spain. All 3 received land grants from areas their nations claimed. There are plenty of original Spanish families living in the US and Mexico. They do make the distinction of being Spanish - from Spain, as opposed to also having Native and African and even British ancestry as well.
It basicly means they have kept records, and can trace their ancestry back to somewhere in Spain. I have met people that were obviously Mexican that also claimed to be Spanish and not Mexican. It came across to me like part of a class system, and claiming to be Spanish was somehow at the top of the heap for this system.
It is, 'Mexican' is certainly said a lot in a derogatory way, and for some, the 'whiteness' is a factor. ALOT of people are hung up on that, and who can blame them, in a world that values whiteness?
When a Mexican says he is Spanish, it means he is white . A Mexican would never call himself Spanish, as Mexico was given its Independence from Spain. Mexican are of Indian origin, as one can realize a tan skin Mexican could look like a cousin to an American Indian. Mexicans did live through out the west before the US expanded. The are indigenous to what is now known as the US of A.
Unfortunately, Latinos or Hispanics are all classified as Spanish. Latinos just go with the flow and call themselves Spanish, even though they may be more than 4 generations away from Spain. In the West Hispanics are all Mexican, and in the East Puerto Ricans, and in Florida Cuban. Just bunch em' all in a category.
When a Mexican says he is Spanish, it means he is white . A Mexican would never call himself Spanish, as Mexico was given its Independence from Spain. Mexican are of Indian origin, as one can realize a tan skin Mexican could look like a cousin to an American Indian. Mexicans did live through out the west before the US expanded. The are indigenous to what is now known as the US of A.
Unfortunately, Latinos or Hispanics are all classified as Spanish. Latinos just go with the flow and call themselves Spanish, even though they may be more than 4 generations away from Spain. In the West Hispanics are all Mexican, and in the East Puerto Ricans, and in Florida Cuban. Just bunch em' all in a category.
'Mexican' is a nationality, not a race or ethnicity.
That's what I'm sayin! ---to my knowledge, no Mexican or Mexican-American has ever claimed to prefer being called Spanish.
So, she's just making this up. Right?
But why?
Sometimes people just say things, I guess.
MAny Latin Americans have a predominant Spanish heritage. JUst as some Americans can have a predominant Irish heritage.
IN any event people from Latin America are called Hispanics in the USA. This is a USA invention as they wanted to find terms to classify people that check white in the box. The term is wrong as the original Hispanics are the Spaniards. When the Romans colonized the Iberian Peninsula almost 2000 years ago they called that area of the world Hispania.
In reality indigenous people from Latin America are Asians.
Although this may be another thread for another day, I also don't get Mexicans referring to North Americans as "white" and find it offensive. We're all of the Caucasian race -- there are only three of them.
MAny Latin Americans have a predominant Spanish heritage. JUst as some Americans can have a predominant Irish heritage.
IN any event people from Latin America are called Hispanics in the USA. This is a USA invention as they wanted to find terms to classify people that check white in the box. The term is wrong as the original Hispanics are the Spaniards. When the Romans colonized the Iberian Peninsula almost 2000 years ago they called that area of the world Hispania.
In reality indigenous people from Latin America are Asians.
wrong, the term hispano have been in use for 3 centuries to refer to hispano-americano,
hispanic = short for hispanoamericano
latino = short for latinoamericano
wrong, the term hispano have been in use for 3 centuries to refer to hispano-americano,
hispanic = short for hispanoamericano
latino = short for latinoamericano
both terms are older than the USA
In Central and South America people acknowledge the Hispanic or Latin influence from Europe, however, people never called themselves Hispanic. I will admit they sometimes saw themselves as Latins. In any event I was referring to the formal term Hispanic which is predominantly used in the USA
Quote:
The term "Hispanic" was adopted by the United States government in the early 1970s during the administration of Richard Nixon[18] after the Hispanic members of an interdepartmental Ad Hoc Committee to develop racial and ethnic definitions recommended that a universal term encompassing all Hispanic subgroups—including Central and South Americans—be adopted.
Huffington Post: "Latino Or Hispanic? How The Federal Government Decided" By Grace Flores-Hughes
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