I hope nobody is offended by this question.
The term is quite comprehensive to mean anything. Is it used for racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic or regional characteristics? What about White, Asian, African and Native American people born in Latin America? Can it be used for the millions of German, Italian, Slavic, Asian, Middle Eastern and African descents from certain regions of South America?
Why this term only exists in the United States and nowhere else in the world?
The term doesn't apply to people from Portuguese-speaking Brazil or the French-speaking Latin American countries, so Latinos are not necessarily Hispanic.
Spaniards (or Spanish) are not Hispanic either, as in most Europe they are considered just as Caucasians and there are several ethnic groups in Spain (Basques, Catalonians, Castilians, Galician, Moorish, etc).
I am interested in how this term is understood by people and if there are contradictions in their views— racist answers will be reported
2007-05-17 15:58:42 · 0 answers · asked by Electrobird 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
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2007-05-17 16:24:20 · update #1
I minored in spanish in college and they always taught us that the word hispanic referred to the spanish diaspora, or anywhere conquered by Spaniards. Whereas Latino means coming from any region where a language deriving from latin is commonly spoken. I think the reason its only used in America is that Americans feel the need to classify and judge everything based on our own close-minded belief system.
2007-05-17 16:32:37 · answer #1 · answered by erin f 2 · 5⤊ 0⤋
The origin of this term comes from ancient romans. They used to call the people who lived in "Iberia" , hispanos.As I think you know, "Iberia" is that part of europe landmass that projects itself towards Africa and forms Spain and Portugal today . People from North-America uses to call people "south of the border" Hispanics just because most of them are native speakers of spanish language with the exception of Brazil.
2007-05-17 16:26:10 · answer #2 · answered by gritonoescuro 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My husband is Mexican, and most of the Mexican's where I live refer to themselves as Hispanic. I never personally have thought about the origins of the term.
2007-05-17 16:09:55 · answer #3 · answered by peekabugaboo 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Hispanic means from Spain. It can describe a person's race, heritage, food, culture, whatever.
2007-05-17 16:04:05 · answer #4 · answered by Angelacia baybeeeeee 7 · 3⤊ 5⤋