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Chicano

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

A Chicano is a United States person with Mexican heritage. Chicana is the female form of the word. The term Chicano is deemed to be offensive by some Mexican-Americans, preferring other identities such as Hispanic, Latino, or even Spanish. In Mexico the term can connote a person of low-class and poor morals, while in the US the term carries multiple meanings. Sabine Ulibarri, a famous author from Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico notes that "chicano" is a politically-loaded term, though it is considered a positive term-of-honor by others.

Many Chicanos refer to themselves as "La raza" (literally, 'the race'). Some use the phrase "la raza de bronce", some see themselves as "brown" or "bronze" because of their aboriginal ancestry (as opposed to white and black people). Most refer to themselves as "la raza cosmica" which means the universal race. Bruce Novoa, a famous Chicano author, once wrote that Chicanos exist in the space created by the hyphen in Mexican-American. The etymology of the word Chicano is uncertain, some link it to Mexicano (i.e. Mexican).

Before Spanish colonization, Aztlán was the dominant native nation in what is now called Mexico. The predominant language in the region was Nahuatl. Huitzolopochtli is the Aztec god of fire, war, and the sun. Mexi (pronounced Mechi) was another name for Huitzolopochtli. There was a split in the Aztec community and the group who considered themselves the sons of Huitzolopochtli called themselves Mexica (pronounced Mechica) which led to the name Mexico. The word chicana/o is derived from Xica (chica) from Mexica (Mechica). Many individuals of Mexican decent use the word Chicana or Chicano is a reclaiming and regeneration of a culture destroyed through colonialism.

Some claim that in Old Spanish, the letter X was pronounced as modern English <sh> /S/. Others claim to find its true etymology in the Spanish word "chicana," meaning "harassment."

Some believe chicano was originally a pejorative term, while others believe it was an abbreviation of the term Mexicano (XI pronounced CH). In any case, the term was adopted by Chicano social rights activists in the 1960s as a political, positive term. Some of these activists included Corky Gonzales who wrote Yo soy Joaquín; Alurista, a chicano poet; and César Chávez of the "no uvas" and United Fruit Workers. In the 1960s, the Chicano movement MEChA was also formed.

External links

· Chicanas.com A Chicana feminist website

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Latin America

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The term Latin America is used loosely to refer to all the American countries south of the United States: used this way, it covers the whole of South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. It is used in a strict sense to refer solely to the nations in those geographical regions where the Spanish and Portuguese languages predominate; this narrower definition excludes the countries and territories where English and other languages are spoken (Jamaica, Belize, Guyana, Suriname, Haiti, etc.).

Likewise, the United States and Canada are sometimes grouped under Anglo-America.

There are many languages historically and currently spoken in Latin America: Aymara,Creole/Patois, Guarani, Mapuche Language, Mayan Languages, Nahuatl, Portuguese, Quechuan, Spanish, Sranan, and a few other languages.

Religion is diverse as well. The primary religion throughout Latin America is Roman Catholicism, however one might also be able to find Protestant, Pentecostal, Evangelical, Buddhism, Jewish, indigenous, and Afro-Latin American religions among the many.

The reason for these diversities is because the majority of the people in Latin America – although by no means all of them – are of mixed blood, the result of racial intermingling among European settlers, African slaves, and American natives. This mixture of cultures and keeping of certain traditions and doing away with others has made Latin America the unique, yet very influenced culture that it has today. Culture mixes are not only about the languages and religions, but also about the dance and music of Latin America as well. A Latino is a person of Latin American heritage, or from a Latin American culture.

Etymological note: Treating the term literally, one might expect the term to apply to cultures and regions in the Americas deriving from cultures speaking Romance languages (those descended from Latin). However, French-speaking areas of the Americas, such as Quebec and Acadia in Canada, are not generally considered part of Latin America. Yet this was the original intention of the term. "Latin America" was first proposed during the French occupation of Mexico (1862-1867), when Napoleon III supported Archduke Maximilian's pretensions to be emperor of Mexico. The French hoped that an inclusive notion of "Latin" America would support their cause. Mexican citizens eventually expelled the French while retaining the term "Latino"; this is one of history's more charming ironies.

The alternative term Iberoamerica is sometimes used to refer to the nations that were formerly colonies of Spain and Portugal, as these two countries are located on the Iberian peninsula. The Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) takes this defintion a step further, by including Spain and Portugal (often termed the Mother Countries of Latin America) among its member states, in addition to their Spanish and Portuguese speaking former colonies in America.

The Latin American countries, taking the term in its strict sense, are:

· Argentina

· Bolivia

· Brazil

· Chile

· Colombia

· Costa Rica

· Cuba

· Dominican Republic

· Ecuador

· El Salvador

· Guatemala

· Honduras

· Mexico

· Nicaragua

· Panama

· Paraguay

· Peru

· Uruguay

· Venezuela and

· the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (USA)

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Hispanic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Hispanic is one of several terms used to describe residents of the US whose background are the Spanish speaking countries of Latin America. It is used to identify immigrants and their descendants of a wide range of ethnicities, races, cultures and nationalities, who use Spanish as primary language. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, comprising 13.4% of the population, i.e. about 40 million people in 2003. The Hispanic population grows at about 4% per year, much faster than other ethnic groups in the United States.

Often the term Hispanic is used synonymously with the word Latino. However, a Hispanic specifically refers to people from Spain or the various Spanish speaking nations. Latinos are people of Latin American origin. For example a Brazilian would be Latino, but not specifically Hispanic (unless he or she is of Spanish origin as well). Likewise a Spaniard would be Hispanic according to most common definitions of the term, but not Latino. Some people would argue that as Spaniards are Europeans, they should not be included in a category designated as a "minority group" in the United States. However, others would counter that Spain and the Hispanic American nations, despite their many differences, are part of the same greater cultural sphere.

The term Hispanic 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".

Some people consider Hispanic to be too general as a label, and some consider it offensive, often preferring instead to use the term Latino, which is viewed as a self-chosen term. This term states more clearly that it refers to people from Latin America, excluding Spain. The current use of the term Hispanic to describe the Spanish speaking peoples gained acceptance relatively recently, as a result of its promotion by the United States government. Previously, this group was commonly referred to as "Spanish-Americans", "Spanish-surnamed Americans", or "Spanish-speaking Americans", however these terms proved misleading or inaccurate in many cases.

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

The diverse nature of the Hispanic population often makes efforts toward creating a Pan-Hispanic sense of identity difficult. While Hispanics are often treated as a group apart from "whites", "blacks", and other racial groups in the United States, the Hispanic population inculdes people who identify with different racial and ethnic groups. Many Hispanics, particularly those of Mexican and Central American ancestry, identify as mestizos (of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry). Many other Hispanics with Dominican, Puerto Rican, Colombian or Cuban backgrounds are of black African or mixed black ancestry. A number of Hispanic-Americans have Asian, Middle Eastern, and non-Spanish European ancestry, and further confound many common notions of what it means to be Hispanic.

However, several features tend to unite Hispanics from diverse backgrounds. Many Hispanics, including American 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.

The Spaniards brought the Roman Catholic faith to Latin America and Roman Catholicism continues to be the largest religious denomination within most Hispanic communities. Many Hispanic communities celebrate the saint's day of their homelands patron saint with festivals and religious services. Devotion toward the Lady of Guadalupe is particularly important among Mexican Roman Catholics. Some Hispanics syncretize Roman Catholicism and African or Native American beliefs in beliefs such as Santería as well.

A significant number of Hispanics are Protestant, and several Protestant or Evangelical denominations have vigorously proslytized in Hispanic communites. Jewish Hispanics include descendants of Jewish families who have immigrated to Latin America and later to the United States, as well as Anusim, or reconverted Jewish people who's ancestors long ago hid their Jewish beliefs due to fear of Spanish persecution (see inquisition, Sephardim).

Popular culture varies widely from one Hispanic community to another. 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. Traditional Mexican-American Tejano music is more influenced by American country music and the polka, brought by central European settlers in Texas. Latin pop, rock and ballad styles tend to appeal to the broader Hispanic population, and varieties of Cuban music are popular with many Hispanics of all backgrounds.

There is also no single Hispanic cuisine. Traditional Mexican, Cuban, Spanish, and Peruvian cooking vary greatly from each other - and take on new forms in the United States. While Mexican cooking is the most familiar variety of "Hispanic food" in most of the United States, it is not representative of the cuisine of most other Hispanics. Most groceries in heavily Hispanic areas carry a wide variety of specialty Latin-American products, in addition to the widely available brands of tortillas and Mexican style salsa.

See also: "Chicano", List of United States cities with a majority Hispanic population, and Languages in the United States

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Mestizo

(Redirected from Mestizos)

Mestizo (Port. Mestiço) is a term of Spanish origin describing peoples of mixed European and Amerindian racial descent. The feminine form is mestiza.

In colonial Latin America, the term originally referred to the children of one European and one Amerindian parent, but today refers to all people with a significant amount of both European and Amerindian ancestry in Latin America.