Latino or Hispanic. Is there such a thing?
Before heading into Hispanic Heritage later this month, I thought it’d be great time to provide a simple crash course for the many kinds of descriptors for Latin folks. Many folks, including Latin folks can often use different cultural descriptors to describe themselves. Whichever way they want to describe themselves is a personal choice and there is no set correct/incorrect terminology. I just wanna preface this by stating that this is not super detailed but just a broad overview. There are tons of sub-categories and cultural identifiers within Latin culture. So let’s get into it:
“Spanish” vs “Hispanic” vs “Latino” vs “Latinx”
Spanish – Spanish refers directly to people from Spain (European). Spain colonized a large chunk of Latin America but were not alone in doing so.The Portguese, the French and Dutch all had colonies in South America. Spain did have the largest cultural impact across Latin America and is the most recognized language. People who are not from Spain often identify as Spanish likely either because they have Spanish ancestry or misunderstand the term since it’s often conflated with Hispanic.
Hispanic – Hispanic originally referred to the people of ancient Roman Hispania, which roughly comprised the Iberian Peninsula, including the contemporary states of Spain, Portugal, and Andorra, and the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Hispanic in modern context typically applies to people in the US. a Spanish-speaking person living in the US, especially one of Latin American descent.
Latino – Latinidad is a Spanish-language term that refers to the various attributes shared by Latin American people and their descendants without reducing those similarities to any single essential trait. It’s a term often used in the United States to refer to people with cultural ties to Latin America, in contrast to Hispanic which is a demonym that includes Spaniards and other speakers of the Spanish language. However this term encapsulates all people from Latin America, including countries and cultures that do not speak Spanish. It is purposefully an encompassing term as it’s meant to includes folks from all spectrums in Latin American cultures. Often in music, musicians will refer to Latinos as “La Raza”. This is a term for the latino spirit of unity amongst folks of all walks of life. It was popularized in Mexico and Chicano culture but became a staple of Latin American culture.
Latinx – Latinx is a more recent adaptation of “Latino” by Latinos in North America used by younger generations of Latin folks. The key difference is that Latinx is gender neutral and recognizes folks from all kinds of different gender identities and backgrounds.
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