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Old 06-05-2012, 01:37 PM  
Joe Obenberger
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None of the terms seem coherent to me - Latino/Latina, Hispanic, Spanish, etc. - these terms are used like a race, but they describe a bunch of people associated with a language and one of several related cultures regardless of race. A Black Puerto Rican or Brazilian is identified within his or her own culture and society as Latin, because Latin cultural identity is based on language rather than physical features, and those cultures would understand "negro" or "negrita" or "morena" as being a sub-part of Latin-ness. We Americans mainly look at racial characteristics to judge ethnic identity of nonwhites, but the Latins look at language.

I'm half Sicilian. Sicily was ruled for one hundred years by Arabs and for three hundred years by Spaniards, and one of my grandmothers was born an Orlando, yes the same family from Sicily, originally Spanish, that founded a city in Florida. I've never understood whether that makes me Hispanic or not, but it's my sense that, because I don't come from a family with a tradition of the Spanish language being spoken that few would consider me to be Latin.
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