Encyclopedia
Hispanic is a term denoting a derivation from
Spain, its
people and
culture. It follows the same style of use as Anglo, which 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.
Unfortunately, as discussed later, it provides a very imprecise definition as is often used today. In the United States it results in people who are descendants of Spaniards claiming being members of an oppressed group when, in fact, the Spanish empire killed many Native American Indians in both North and South America and also enslaved millions of Africans taking them to the Western Hemisphere. At a minimum, this provides a confusing representation of the history of the Spanish Empire, the pre-European American Colonization of the Americas, and the African slave trade occuring in the 17th through 19th century. A further manifestation of this term is the recent broad use of the Spanish language -- and the argument of accomodation for those in the United States to that langague. Of course, once again, this argument ignores that the Spanish language derives from the Latin of the Roman Empire. Moreover, many of those who speak that language now are largely ignorant of their native languages and heritage . Further, an other unfortunate result of this broad based term is that programs designed to assist those groups which clearly have been historically disadvantaged benefit no more from such programs than anyone who claims to be "Hispanic," irrespective of actual racial or cultural heritage, are considered for the same programs as those who are descended from groups who were oppressed .
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 population. In this sense, when speaking of a nation's
Hispanic population, those who are implied are
Spaniards, criollos,
mestizos,
mulattos, or anyone else with significant Spanish ancestry, to the exclusion of indigenous
Amerindians, unmixed descendants of black
African
slaves or other peoples from later migrations without any Spanish lineage who today reside in any of the Hispanic nations, regardless of whether they now use Spanish as their first and only language.
As this description is largely unique to the United States, it is possible that in time that a more precise definition will be accepted. In much of the Americas, the populace clearly distinguishes between those who are of European ancestry, native ancestry or of African ancestry -- as well as those who are of multi-ethic backgounds. Some have suggested that "Hispanic" has, in the United States, become no more of a description than calling someone "American" in a country outside of the United States. That is, though it might explain coming from a society where Spanish is the first language spoken it describes little else.
The term "Hispanic"
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.
"Hispanic" specifically refers to
Spain, and to the
Spanish-speaking nations of
the Americas, as cultural and demographic extensions of Spain. It should be further noted that in a U.S. context, a Hispanic population consists of the people of Spain and everyone with origins in any of Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, regardless of ancestry of the latter. In the context of Spain and Latin America, a Hispanic population consists of the people of Spain, and when regarding the inhabitants of the Spanish-speaking nations of the Americas, includes only criollos,
mestizos,
mulattos, and others with Spanish ancestry, to the exclusion of indigenous
Amerindians, unmixed descendants of black
Africans and whites or other peoples from later migrations without any Spanish lineage.
In regards to the term
Latin, in this context it refers to the conception of "
Latin America" as a region, a concept which was introduced by the
French in the 1860s when they dreamed of building an empire based in
Mexico. See
French intervention in Mexico. This concept of a "Latin" America was closely connected to the introduction of French positivism into the region's intellectual circles. The French understood "Latin" to include themselves and other continental European
Romance speaking nations, to the exclusion of their "Anglo-Saxon" colonial rivals the
United States and the
United Kingdom .
Latinos, meanwhile, is a contraction of "Latinoamericanos", and refers only to those from Spanish or Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America, this time, regardless of ancestry in all contexts. Those from French Canada are very rarely included, while those from
Haiti are never. In the rare cases where they are, it is 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
Latinoamericano . In the Spanish language "Latín" is the name of the language of the
Romans. This means that "Latin" is not confined solely to Hispanics, Latin Americans, or Latinos, but has always included such peoples as the
Italians,
French,
Romanians,
Portuguese, etc.
Thus, of a group consisting of a
Brazilian, a
Colombian, a
Mexican, a
Spaniard, a
Romanian, and a U.S.-born Cuban American, the Brazilian, Colombian, and Mexican would all be Latin American, but not the Spaniard, the Romanian, or the Cuban American, since neither Spain nor Romania nor the U.S. is geographically situated in Latin America. Conversely, the Colombian, Mexican, Cuban American and Spaniard would all be Hispanics, but not the Brazilian or the Romanian, since Brazil is primarily of Portuguese heritage, and neither Portugal nor Romania is a cultural descendant of Spain. The Cuban American would be the sole
Latino, in the U.S., English language sense of the term . Finally, the above would all be Latin, especially if they're of unmixed
Latin European ancestry.
It should be noted that 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 .
Besides "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 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 , and;
- Although most Hispanics have a Spanish surname, not all do, and while most Spanish-surnamed people are Hispanic, not all are .
Hispanics in the United States
Demographics
Hispanics constitute the largest minority group in the United States. As of July 1, 2004, Hispanics accounted for 14.1 % of the population, around 41.3 million people. The Hispanic growth rate over the July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2004 period was 3.6 % - higher than any other ethnic group in the United States, and in fact more than three times the rate of the nation's total population . The projected Hispanic population of the United States for July 1, 2050, is of 102.6 million people. According to this projection, Hispanics will constitute 24% of the nation’s total population on that date.
Of the nation's total Hispanic population, 49% lives in
California or
Texas. Not counting
Puerto Rico — which is a territorial possession of the United States —
New Mexico is the state with the highest proportion of Hispanics, where 43% is of Hispanic origin. The proportion of Hispanics in the states of California and Texas exceeds 35% each.
The Hispanic population of
Los Angeles County, California - numbering over 4.6 million - is the largest of any county in the nation. Meanwhile, for the 2000 to 2004 period,
Lee County, Florida had the fastest growth rate in Hispanic population of any other county in the United States.
Some 64% of the nation's Hispanic population are of Mexican or
Mexican-American ancestry. Another approximately 10% are of Puerto Rican background, with about 3% each of Cuban, Salvadoran and Dominican origins. The remainder are of other
Central American,
South American or other Hispanic or Latino origins.
The overwhelming majority of Hispanics of Mexican/Mexican-American origin are concentrated in the
Southwestern United States, primarily California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The majority of the Hispanic population in the
Southeastern United States, concentrated in Florida, are of
Cuban origin. The Hispanic population in the
Northeastern United States, concentrated in
New York and
New Jersey, is composed mostly of Puerto Ricans, however, the Dominican population has risen considerably in the last decade, especially in proportion to that region's Hispanic population. The remainder of other Hispanics, composed of various
Central American and
South American origins, may be found throughout the country, though South Americans tend to concentrate on the
East Coast of the United States and Central Americans on the
West Coast of the United States .
There are few immigrants from Spain.
Political trends
Main article: Hispanics and PoliticsHispanics differ on their political views. For example, many Cubans and Colombians tend to favor conservative political ideologies and support the Republicans, while Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans lean more towards the Democrats; however, because the latter groups are far more numerous , the Democratic Party is considered to be in a far stronger position among Hispanics overall. In the past two national election cycles, however, the Presidency of
George W. Bush has had a significant impact on the political leanings of Hispanic Americans. As a former Governor of
Texas, President Bush has regarded the growing Hispanic community as a potential source of growth for the conservative and/or Republican movement--particularly because of the Catholic and more conservative social values that many Hispanic Americans share with the conservative element of the American political system. The U.S. Census indicates that the Hispanic population of the United States is the fastest growing minority in the country, and will hold considerable political clout within the next 50 years. Some political organizations associated with Hispanic Americans are LULAC, the
United Farm Workers and the Cuban American National Foundation.
Bush has made some gains for the Republican Party among Hispanics. For example, in the
1996 presidential election, 72% of Hispanics backed
President Clinton, but in 2000, that Democratic total fell to 62%, and down further to 58% in 2004, with Democrat
John Kerry winning Hispanics 58-40 over Bush.
It also breaks down interestingly by state. Hispanics in the West, especially in California, were much stronger for the Democratic Party than in Texas and Florida. California Latinos voted 63-32 for John Kerry in 2004, and both Arizona and New Mexico Latinos by a smaller 56-43 margin, but Texas Latinos were split nearly evenly, and Florida Latinos actually backed President Bush by a 56-44 margin.
Cultural trends
Main article: Hispanic culturePopular culture varies widely from one Hispanic community to another, but despite this several features tend to unite Hispanics from diverse backgrounds. Many Hispanics, including U.S.-born second and third generation Hispanics, use the
Spanish language to varying degrees. The most usual pattern is monolingual Spanish usage among new immigrants or older foreign born Hispanics, complete bilingualism among long settled immigrants and their children, and the use of Spanglish and colloquial Spanish within long established Hispanic communities by the third generation and beyond. In some families the children and grandchildren of immigrants speak mostly English with some Spanish words and phrases thrown in.
Also see: Association of Hispanic Arts
Media
The United States is home to thousands of
Spanish language media outlets ranging in size from giant commercial broadcasting networks and major Hispanic-oriented
periodicals with circulations numbering in the millions, to low-power AM
radio stations with listeners numbering in the hundreds. There are hundreds of online media outlets targeting US Hispanic audiences, some of which are online versions of their printed counterparts and others online exclusively.
In the aspect of
public television, otherwise known as non-commercial television, there are organizations that advocate a greater degree of programming from a Hispanic-American perspective in public television. One of the most prominent of these groups is Latino Public Broadcasting which funds programs of educational and cultural significance to Hispanic-Americans. These LPB-funded projects are distributed to various public television stations throughout the United States.
Noteworthy Spanish-language media outlets include:
- Univision and Telemundo, respectively the first and second largest Spanish-language television networks in the United States, each with affiliates in nearly every major U.S. market, including numerous affiliates internationally.
- El Nuevo Herald, a Spanish-language daily newspaper serving the greater Miami, Florida market.
- Vida Latina, a Spanish-language entertainment magazine distributed throughout the Southern United States.
Racial diversity
Even outside the broad US definition of Hispanic, the term encompasses a very racially diverse population. While in the United States, Hispanics are often treated as a group apart from
whites, blacks or other races, they actually include people who may identify with any or all of those racial groups.
In the mass media as well as popular culture, "Hispanic" is often incorrectly used to describe a subject's
race or physical appearance. In general, Hispanics are assumed to have traits such as dark hair and eyes, and tan or brown skin. Many others are viewed as physically intermediate between whites and
Amerindians and blacks.
Hispanics with mostly
Caucasoid or Negroid features may not be recognized as such in spite of the ethnic and racial diversity of most Latin American populations. People of Spanish or Latin American ancestry who do not "look like the stereotypical Hispanic" may have their ethnic status questioned or even challenged by others. Actors
Cameron Diaz and
Alfonso Ribeiro, for example, are both Hispanic, even though they may be presumed not to be so because they do not fit the stereotype, the former being white and the latter black.
A great proportion of Hispanics identify as
mestizo , regardless of national origin. This is largely because most Hispanics have their origins in majority mestizo Latin American countries. Many individuals identified as "Hispanics" are of unmixed
Native American ancestry, many of those from
Bolivia,
Guatemala,
Peru—where they constitute a majority or plurality of the population—and a considerable proportion from
Mexico.
Many other Hispanics may be of unmixed European ancestry, primarily, besides
Spaniards, those from
Argentina,
Colombia,
Puerto Rico,
Cuba, and
Uruguay.
Many Hispanics born in or with descent from the
Dominican Republic,
Puerto Rico,
Venezuela and
Colombia may be of
African descent, be it
mulatto ,
zambo ,
triracial or unmixed black African.
In the case of many Argentines and Uruguayans labelled "Hispanic" by the U.S. definition, may actually trace their ancestries to other European countries besides Spain. This is also true for others from other Hispanic countries, although at greatly reduced rates. Argentines and Uruguayans of full or partial
Italian ancestry alone are said to account for at least one third of their countries' populations. Other ancestries include
German,
Irish,
French,
Polish. Nevertheless, even in the cases of Argentines and Uruguayans, most do posess some Spanish ancestry, as the waves of European immigrants to these two countries tended to quickly assimilate, intermarrying with the local population which at the times was of Spanish descent in its majority . Likewise, a percentage of Hispanics as defined by the U.S. may trace their ancestries from the
Middle East, or
East Asia. Examples of these would include
Colombians,
Ecuadorians, and
Mexicans of
Lebanese ancestry;
Cubans,
Puerto Ricans and
Panamanians of Chinese ancestry;
Chileans and
Paraguayans of German ancestry; or
Peruvians of
Japanese ancestry. When they migrate to the United States, the definition as most frequently advocated would consider them Hispanic.
See also: Asian Latino.
On occasion the demographics of certain nations may not mirror the demographics of their communities in the United States. This is the case with Cuban Americans. Most Cuban Americans are of relatively unmixed Spanish ancestry, despite Cuba being a mulatto/black majority country, according to most estimates. The racial disparity between Cubans on the U.S. mainland and those on the island is caused largely by the fact that most of the emigrants who fled in the
early days of communist Cuba belong to the upper and middle classes, classes which have traditionally been predominantly white in that country as in other parts of Latin America.
The presence of these mentioned races and race-mixes are not country-specific, since they can be found in every Latin American country, whether as larger of smaller proportions of their respective populations. Even in Spain, the European motherland of Hispanicity, there is a slowly growing population of mestizos and mulattos due to the reversal of the historic Old World-to-
New World migration pattern.
In the 2000 Census
Hispanics self-identified mostly as white, black, amerindian or some other race.
Religious diversity
Main article: Hispanics and Religion.The Pew Charitable Trusts in 2003 prepared a detailed study of
Hispanic Churches in American Public Life 70% of American Hispanics report themselves Catholic, and 23% Protestant, with 6% having no affiliation.
About 70% of the Hispanics are Roman Catholics, usually of a traditional style, which emphasizes ritual, sacraments, veneration of the saints and leadership of the priests and bishops. A religious vocation is highly prized, and the churches are overflowing on Sundays. Many of the children attend Catholic schools . A minority are charismatics.
Among the Hispanic Catholics, most communities celebrate their homeland's patron
saint, dedicating a day for this purpose with festivals and religious services.
Some Hispanics syncretize Roman Catholicism and African rituals and beliefs. Such is the case of Santería, popular with Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans and which combines old African beliefs in the form of Roman Catholic saints and rituals.
23% of Hispanics are Protestant. 85% of these are "born-again" and belong to Evangelical or Pentecostal churches.
Among the smaller groups are Hispanic Jews. They are the descendants of
Ashkenazi Jews who migrated from Europe to Latin America, particularly
Argentina and
Cuba, and thence to the United States.
Guadalupism is a distinctive the devotion towards
Our Lady of Guadalupe) among Mexican American Catholics. It hybridizes Catholic rites for the
Virgin Mary with old rituals for the
Aztec goddess Tonantzin and has all her attributes also endowed to the Lady of Guadalupe, whose Catholic shrine stands on the same sacred Aztec site that had previously been dedicated to Tonatzín, on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico.
While a tiny minority, there are some Hispanic Muslims in Latin America.
Music
Folk and popular dance and music also varies greatly among Hispanics. While many people speak of "Latin" music as a single genre, Latin America is home to a wide variety of music. Hispanic Caribbean music tends to favor complex polyrhythms of African origin. Mexican music shows combined influences of mostly Spanish and Native American origin, while traditional Northern Mexican music — norteńo and banda — is more influenced by country-and-western music and the
polka, brought by
Central European settlers to
Mexico. The music of Mexican Americans — such as tejano music — has influences in rock and
jazz music in addition to traditional Mexican music. Meanwhile, native
Andean sounds and melodies are the backbone of Peruvian and Bolivian music, but also play a significant role in the popular music of most South American countries and are heavily incorporated into the folk music of Ecuador and Chile and the tunes of Colombia, and again in Chile where they play a fundamental role in the form of the greatly followed nueva canción. In US communities of immigrants from these countries it is common to hear these styles. Latin pop, Rock, Latin hip-hop and
Reggaeton styles tend to appeal to the broader Hispanic population, and varieties of Cuban music are popular with many Hispanics of all backgrounds.
There is a huge variety of literature from US Hispanics and the Hispanic countries.
Cuisine
There is also no single Hispanic cuisine. Traditional Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Spanish, Argentine, and Peruvian cooking, for example, all vary greatly from each other, and take on new forms in the United States. While
Mexican cuisine is the most familiar variety of "Hispanic food" in most of the United States, it is not representative of the cuisine of most other Hispanic peoples.
The cuisine of Mexico can be heavily dependent on staples such as
maize,
beans,
chile peppers and is greatly indebted to the cuisine and diet of the Aztec and Maya. Cuba and Puerto Rico, on the other hand, may be dependent on starchy
root vegetables,
plantain and
rice and is influenced by the flavors of Spain, Africa and China. The cuisine of Spain often mirrors the cuisines of its
Mediterranean neighbors, and in addition to the abundance of
olives,
olive oil,
tomatoes,
seafood and meats, other foreign influences, such as the use of
saffron, were introduced during the
spice trade. Meanwhile, Argentina relies almost exclusively on red meats, consuming almost everything derived from
beef, and is heavily influenced by Italian cuisine. In
Peruvian cuisine guinea pigs are popular as a source of meat and staples indigenous to the region, such as maize and the myriad of
potato varieties, are the most utilized there. Rice also plays an important role in Peruvian cuisine.
This diversity in staples and cuisine is also evident in the differing regional cuisines within the national borders of the individual countries. Most groceries in heavily Hispanic areas carry a wide array of specialty Latin American products, in addition to the widely available brands of
tortillas and Mexican style salsa.
Symbols
Flag
While relatively unknown, there is a flag representing the countries of Hispanic America, its people, history and shared cultural legacy.
It was created in October of 1933 by Ángel Camblor, captain of the Uruguayan army. It was adopted by all the states of Latin America during
La Conferencia Panamericana held that same year in
Montevideo,
Uruguay.
The white background stands for peace, the
Inti sun god in Inca mythology symbolizes the light shining on the American continent, and the three crosses represent
Christopher Columbus'
caravels, the Nińa,
Pinta 
