March 15, 2003
-
Urban Latino Magazine with the ML article/interview is out at newstands. I think this is the full version of the interview published at MiGente.com. Luz Maria has mailed us a copy, but it may not arrive before we leave Sydney…
Today Eddie asked: “What is the difference between ‘Hispanic’, ‘Latino’ and ‘Chicano’?” We both realized we had no idea, and we didn’t know which was the politically-correct and most appropriate term to use to describe our (Mexican-American) ML characters and friends in America. We had been loosely interchanging the terms as if they all meant the same thing…
In Australia, we don’t use these terms. Our Spanish-speaking friends have never call themselves “hispanic” or “latino/latina”. They identify themselves by their parents’ and grandparents’ nationality (Spanish, Argentinian, Chilean etc.)
So, I did a search on the terms Hispanic, Latino and Chicano, and found these writings:
- Are Chicanos the Same As Mexicans?(mexica.net)
- Hispanic Vs Latino (hispanicmagazine.com)
- Hispanic Vs Latino (Eagle Tribune)
This is what we learnt – The term “hispanic” is the most politically-loaded. It was a term used by the American Census Bureau to classify all brown-colored people who speak Spanish. Although it is socially-acceptable to use it, it’s not really politically-correct or accurate. Seems it’s not a cool term to use in the media. I suppose it’s like calling someone “Anglo” regardless of whether you are Scottish, American or Australian. It is an old-fashioned term with colonialistic inuendos.
The term “Latino”/”latina” is considered softer and more politically correct, and refers to Latin Americans. It has also been argued that this is another super broad descriptive term that doesn’t acknowledge that there are so many Latin American nationalities. Guess it’s like being called “Asian”, which doesn’t really mean anything. “Asian” is a nebulous term. You could be Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, Indonesian, Filipino… (and we don’t all look alike or talk alike, do we?)
The term “Chicano” comes from the Indian pronunciation of Mexicanos – Me-shee-ka-nos. “Chicano” the term was used by Mexican-American activists in the Brown Power movement of the 60′s/70′s. The usage is often in a political context, and one that refers to cultural pride.
There you go. We learnt something else about America today.
