Should Brazilians be referred to as "Hispanic"?

Question

I know that "Hispanic" denotes Spanish origins, but I want to hear from Brazilians out there who know better than I....

Answer 1

Generally, yes Brazilians are Hispanics. Hispanic is derived from the Roman name of their entire province of what is now Spain & Portugal, Hispania. The word "Spain" is derived from this name. With years of war, isolation, and contact with other culture, the Portuguese formed their own distinct region know as Lusitania. Hence, Portuguese and Brazilians are Luso-Hispanics while Spanish speaking Hispanics are Ibero-Hispanics (Iberia is the name of the entire peninsula today, and it is closely link to Spain's idetity as the national airline is called Iberia Airlines). Yet, there are also other groups such as Catalans and Basques that are Hispanic to a certain extent but don't fall under Ibero or Luso classification. So yes, Brazilians are Hispanics.

Answer 2

I have a Brazilian friend who actually discussed this with me once or twice. He seemed to think that Brazilians should not be referred to as Hispanic because it is very inaccurate. He said that it would be best to refer to people from Brazil as Brazilian, but if one must reach for something else, then "Latin" would be OK too as long as it is understood to be only a general historio-linguistic term (Not a "racial" designation. Portuguese being a Romance language like Spanish, French, etc.). I haven't talked to any other Brazilians about it, so I don't have a large sample of opinions.

Answer 3

Pobebt is right. Hispanic is a term used only in the USA that has it's origins in a racially based society. So you might be in good will trying to improve the concept but it will still denote a nonexistent unit.

Answer 4

lets Hispanic is Iberian/Spanish and Portugal
(Brazilians are descendant from Portuguese)
is in the Iberian/Spanish area so i say yeah

Answer 5

Babby srsly recommends Nair on the satchel, and wax on the tube root. Wax on the satchel may bring about important rippage and stitches. The stitches reason itches and itches, scratches. this is nawt riet.

Answer 6

call them who they are mexican, Italian, Brazilian etc.

Answer 7

no thats not correct

Answer 8

Brazilians are not Hispanics. Hispanics are Latin Americans colonized by Spain.
Brazil is a Latin American country colonized by Portugal.
They are Latin American but NOT Hispanics.
I believe Hispanics or Latins are derogatory terms.
By the way, are North Americans "Anglo-Saxons" or "English"?
Each country has his own people.
Not to be considered as a bunch of second class citizens.
Hispanic (Spanish: Hispano) is a term denoting a derivation from Spain, its people and culture. It follows the same style of use as Anglo indicates a derivation of England and the English. Thus, the Spanish-American War in Spanish is known as Guerra Hispano-Estadounidense, the "Spanish-German Treaty" is Tratado Hispano-Alemán, and "Spanish America" is Hispanoamérica.

As used in the United States, Hispanic is one of several terms employed to categorize all persons whose ancestry hails either from the people of Spain, any of the various peoples of Spanish-speaking Latin America, or the original settlers of the traditionally Spanish-held Southwestern United States. The term is used as a broad form of classification in the U.S. census, local and federal employment, and numerous business market researches.

In Spain, Spanish-speaking Latin America and most countries outside the United States, Hispanic/Hispano is not commonly employed as an indicator of ancestry, however, this can be implied depending on the context. When used in this manner, in Spanish-speaking Latin America an Hispano is commonly regarded to be any person whose ancestry stems, in whole or in part, from the people of Spain — to the contrast of the non-Hispanic (ie. non-Spanish descended) population. In this sense, when speaking of a nation's Hispanic population, those who are implied are Spaniards, criollos, mestizos, and mulattos, to the exclusion of indigenous Amerindians, unmixed descendants of black African slaves or other non-Spanish descended peoples who may reside in each respective country, regardless of whether they now use Spanish as their first and only language.

Etymology
Etymologically, the term Hispano/Hispanic is derived from Hispania, the name given by the Romans to the entire Iberian Peninsula — modern-day Spain and Portugal — during the period of the Roman Republic. Historically, however, Hispanic/Hispano has only ever applied to Spain and things related to her, while a derivation from or relation to Portugal and its people is denominated Luso/Lusitanic.

The usage of Hispanic as an ethnic indicator in the United States is believed to have come into mainstream prominence following its inclusion in a question in the 1980 U.S. Census, which asked people to voluntarily identify if they were of "Spanish/Hispanic origin or descent".


Synonyms and antonyms
Often the term "Hispanic" is used synonymously with the word "Latino", and frequently with "Latin" as well. Even though the terms may sometimes overlap in meaning, they are not completely synonymous.

Latin in this context refers to "Latin America," a term introduced by the French in the 1860s when they dreamed of building an empire based in Mexico. It was closely connected to the introduction of French positivism into Latin American intellectual circles. [1] The French correctly understood "Latin" to include themselves and exclude the "Anglo-Saxons" of the U.S. and the U.K.

"Hispanic", on the other hand, specifically refers to Spain, and to the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas as cultural and demographic extensions of Spain.

Meanwhile, Latinos are only those from the countries of Latin America, whether Spanish, Portuguese, or Creole-speaking, though in the latter case, not so frequently and with some ambiguities.

The confusion that arises is from the similarity between the words Latino and Latin, and between the concept of Hispanic and Latino. Latino is a shortened version of the noun Latinoamérica (Latin America). In the Spanish language "Latín" (Latin) is the name of the language of the Romans. This means that "Latin" is not confined solely to Hispanics and/or Latinos, and has always included such people as the Italians, French, Romanians, Portuguese, etc.

Thus, of a group consisting of a Brazilian, a Colombian, a Mexican, a Spaniard, and a Romanian; the Brazilian, Colombian, and Mexican would all be Latinos, but not the Spaniard or the Romanian, since neither Spain nor Romania are geographically situated in Latin America. Conversely, the Colombian, Mexican and Spaniard would all be Hispanics, but not the Brazilian or the Romanian, since Brazil was colonized by the Portuguese, and neither Portugal nor Romania are extensions of Spain. Finally, all of the above nationalities would all be Latin, including the Romanian.

It should be noted that "Latino" is very rarely applied to French-speaking Québec in Canada, and almost never to Haiti. The categories of "Latino" and "Hispanic" are used primarily in the United States to socially differentiate people. As social categories they are not mutually exclusive and without ambiguities and cannot be seen as independent of social discrimination (socio-economic, ethnic or racial).

Aside from "Hispanic", "Latino", and "Latin", other terms are used for more specific subsets of the Hispanic population. These terms often relate to specific countries of origin, such as "Mexican", "Mexican-American", "Cuban", "Puerto Rican" or "Dominican", etc. Other terms signify distinct cultural patterns among Hispanics which have emerged in what is now the United States, including "Chicano", "Tejano", "Nuyorican", etc.


"Hispanic" as a U.S. ethnic label
In the United States, some people consider "Hispanic" to be too general as a label, while others consider it offensive, often preferring to use the term "Latino", which is viewed as a self-chosen label. The preference of "Latino" over "Hispanic" is partly because it more clearly indicates that those it is referring to are the people from Latin America (including Brazil) and not Spain. Different labels prevail in different regions, as well. In places like Arizona and California, the Chicanos are proud of their personal association and their participation in the agricultural movement of the 1960s with César Chávez, that brought attention to the needs of the farm workers. Usually younger Hispanics will not refer to themselves as such, however.

Previously Hispanics were commonly referred to as "Spanish-Americans", "Spanish-speaking Americans", and "Spanish-surnamed Americans". These terms, however, proved even more misleading or inaccurate since:

Most U.S. Hispanics were not born in Spain, nor were most born to recent Spanish nationals;
Although most U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish, not all do, and though most Spanish-speaking people are Hispanic, not all are (e.g., many U.S. Hispanics by the fourth generation no longer speak Spanish, while there are some non-Hispanics of the Southwestern United States that may be fluent in the language), and;
Although most Hispanics have a Spanish surname, not all do, and while most Spanish-surnamed people are Hispanic, not all are (e.g., there are tens of millions of Spanish-surnamed Filipinos, but very few, only about 3.5%, would qualify as Hispanic by ancestry).

Criticism of application
One vociferous critic of "Hispanic", as it is used in the United States, has been the Mexica Movement — an indigenous rights and education organization. Their central criticism of the label "Hispanic" is that its rationale is eurocentric and inconsistent with the rationale for labeling other groups, including:

Native Americans in the United States, most of whom also have European bloodlines — often predominatly — carry English surnames and are overwhelmingly monolingual English-speakers, yet are not labeled "Anglo".
African-Americans, few of whom do not have some European ancestry, carry British surnames and speak the English language, but are not labeled "Anglo."
Métis of Canada, who are mixed-blood people of French and Amerindian descent, are largely monolingual speakers of English or French, and again are not labeled "Anglo" or "Franco" and have in fact been recognized as Aboriginal peoples in Canada under Canadian law.
Filipinos, who were also colonized by Spain for over 3 centuries, bear many traces of Spanish culture, and often carry Spanish surnames, and are never labeled "Hispanic".
The Mexica Movement asserts that most people of Mexican or Central American descent are indigenous Amerindians (whether mixed-blooded or full-blooded) who have been made to speak a European language as a conseqence of the Spanish colonization of the Americas commencing in 1492. The organization has popularized the slogan "Not Hispanic! Not Latino!" through a t-shirt line of clothing and self-published materials. It should to be noted that their ideology is embraced by very few of the people they purport to represent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic