Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Race is way of classifying people based on genetics. This is pretty clear cut when you have two parents of the same race, but gets subjective when you have different races involved. For example, everyone thinks of Obama as black, but he's also half white.
Ethnicity includes race as a factor, but also includes cultural differences. In China, you'll find people of the same race with different cultures and dialects. They are considered to be of different ethnicity, despite being the same race.
Nationality is the country where you were born. Your parents could both be from Mexico, but if you were born in America, you are an American.
You can have multiple affiliations depending how you look at it. But to answer your specific question, I would list hispanic as your race. Just keep in mind that it's subjective. So there's not one correct answer.
__________________________________________________ ____________________________________
I would disagree with calling yourself Hispanic/Latino.. You are a Native American. Since our ancestors were are from the continent of America. Manifest Destiny drove many indigenous to the Reservation called Mexico. We "indigenous" were given all sorts of names, like Mexico, Latino, and Hispanic, Chicano in order for the plagiarism of our given race "American. Do not believe the hype, start an awaking through your new generation, and call yourself by your God Given Right.. American, American Native, Indigenous...
I think it is clear that none of these terms make any sense. Most of the explanations given for answers are either flawed out outright ridiculous.
Each person makes up his/her own definition for each of these terms based on education, experience and bias. I can think of examples to refute virtually all of the responses that have been given in this thread.
Nationality is simply the country of your citizenship, meaning you can change nationalities. Sometimes people use it to mean the country you were born in, and even more loosely they may use it to mean the country of your ancestors (really a poor usage though).
Ethnicity refers to culture and aspects of race related to it. The Hispanic ethnicity just means Spanish speaking cultures with influence from Spain due to colonization, but also tends to imply Latin American cultures which almost always have Indiginous influence and often have some African influence. Many, pehaps most, Hispanic people have SOME Spanish ancestry, but not all Hispanic people do, just as not all English speakers are white or of British ancestry. They also may have other ancestry as well.
Race is more about genetics and ancestry. Most Mexicans are racially "mixed". The typical Mexican is roughly 60% European (usually mostly Spanish), 35-40% Indiginous (exact tribe can vary - Native Mexicans are not all the same), and sometimes a little African (aka black, and usually like 5% or less). Not every individual Hispanic person has the same ancestry though. There were other Europeans besides Spaniards to immigrate to Mexico and Asians and Middle Eastern people immigrated there too. Mexico is a bit of a melting pot like the USA. It seems most Mexicans are a mix of Spanish + Indiginous peoples, which the culture reflects.
I notice how Mexicans identify often depends upon their appearance and socio-economic class. I notice the more fair skinned identify as Caucasian, and it is probably true that they are mostly European. Unless you adhere to one drop rules, then Caucasian may be the best classification for these people. Those of higher social class tend to feel more Spanish, probably rooted in racism, but regardless of their actual ancestry.
The brown Hispanics often know they are very mixed, but the term Native American may not be relatable, as they may have no idea what their indiginous roots are and that term can conjure up images of teepees and other non-relatable cultural features. I think they just like to stick with "Hispanic" for that reason.
Obviously, there are ties between these terms, but their exact meanings do vary.
One thing I think people confuse more often is heritage & ethnicity. I'll use myself as an example.
Heritage equals ancestry. Ancestrally, I am not entirely Ukrainian (only predominately so). Nevertheless, I consider my ethnicity just to be Ukrainian because at the end of the day, that's what I identify with the most & feel closest to, and I care about Ukraine above all else. The flag hanging atop my desk right now as I post this message is the Ukrainian flag. I consider it my bloodright to call that flag my own. If anyone thinks otherwise, their opinion is irrelevant to me. I would identify my ethnicity as Ukrainian on any census form in any country.
Fundamentally, ethnicity requires some kind of self-consciousness, whereas ancestry is matter of quantitative fact (i.e., in terms of percentage compositions). So, ethnicity, IMO, involves an ancestral component, but it's not just ancestry that determines ethnicity. Ethnicity is not necessarily commensurate with ancestry. For example, if someone is 1/16th French or something like that, it's very unlikely he or she will actually identify as an "ethnic French" person, though that person could say, "I have French heritage/ancestry."
Excuse any typos as I am writing fast and at 4am....
How far can you track your ancestors in that area? You may be Mexican but maybe your great grandparents were from Sweden or Nigeria, then that would be your ancestry. If your ancestors were there for thousands of years, then yes you would be a Native American (race wise) as the previous commentator pointed out. But we cannot assume this because we know nothing of your ancestry.
There is quite a difference between those three things. For instance..
I am Cuban (born in Cuba) I migrated to the United States when I was 7, so therefore I identify myself more with American culture than I probably do with Cuban culture. Despite being Cuban, my race is actually not "hispanic" (as the Americans use this, incorrectly, I believe) but white. I am 95% European based on an actual DNA test with ancestors from Spain, England, Italy, Ireland, Norway, Greece ect..(in fact, that is where most of my ancestry comes from) so....what the heck am I?
Firstly, classifying "hispanic" as a race is terribly incorrect and mislesding and I used to be confused about this when I was younger as well. It wasn't until I furthered my cultural studies in college that I came to better understand this. Hispanic, refers to a country which is Spanish speaking, this term can be used interchangeably with "Latino" since latino refers to countries in Latin America and most are indeed Spanish speaking (with the exception of Brazil which is latino but not hispanic). Spain, despite being a hispanic country, is not a latino country because it is not in Latin America but in Europe.
So going back the differences between these three notions, ethnicity is the culrure with which you identify with (in my case my ethnicity would be Cuban-American, not just Cuban because the fact is that culturally I'm more Cuban American than Cuban) but to an extent hispanic, yet not completely because there is the American part, so Hispanic-American. My nationality is Cuban, because I was indeed born there, in that sense you can only be one thing because you were only born in one place, however if you consider the fact that people become "naturalized citizens and hence change their nationality, then things get even more murky.
My race is white, not latino, not hispanic (again I don't think these are races) there is perhaps, an implication that if you are from a hispanic or latin country you may be not white, this is sometimes the case but to assume that it must be or label everyone from Mexico "hispanic" which results in "Non-White" (according to US paperwork) is a HUGE intentional fallacy. Because the fact is that many people's race ( not ethnicity, not nationality) RACE in Mexico and Cuba among others is indeed white.
So, what does this all mean? What conclusion can we take from this? (everything, not just my comment) That our species is utterly complex and we can never be "just one thing" that would go against out evolutionary history as humans considering the vast pattern of migrations through thousands and even millions of years. The notion of "putting us in a box" is socially constructed and it is a mechanism of power to prevent anarchy and keep everyone in their "rightful place." Can we change this? Perhaps if we wanted to, we could to some degree, however, it would be foolish to believe that we could debunk such systems easily. We could however, be aware of what this classifications mean and the history behind them. As humans, our identity is fluid and never stagnant, we are always changing, always migrating, always evolving. So what to put on papers if unsure? Whoever you see yourself as, whatever you identify with the most as you may be three different things that contradict the social norms.
Last edited by ThirstForKnowledge; 06-01-2017 at 02:18 AM..
ethnicity: culture, language, religion (most people add ancestry to this as well).
race: phenotypes or genotypes
nationality: place where you live, it can also mean being a member of a nation (peoples).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
