WikiPortallus: Hispanic.html

The term is now used to convey the culture and peoples of countries formerly ruled by Spain and still have a large Spanish or Spanish descendant presence and usually but not always, speak the Spanish language. These include: Mexico, Central and South America, the Southwestern United States, Florida, the African nations of Equatorial Guinea, Western Sahara^{citation needed}, and the Northern coastal region of Morocco^{citation needed}, as well as the Asia-Pacific nations of the Philippines, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Although Hispanic is not a homogeneous culture, it encompasses a distinct group of peoples with similar traditions, customs, beliefs and the Spanish language, whether it is the official language in the region (Spain, Latin America, or Equatorial Guinea) or spoken by a significant part of the population (Southwestern U.S. and Florida) or has important traces in native languages (the Philippines, Guam, and the Mariana Islands).

Terminology

Hispanus was the Latin name given to the people of Hispania, the Hispano-Romans^{citation needed}. The construction of ethnic identities was used as a means to gain legitimacy and to organize in overcoming the Roman world³ similar to methods used in the United States in the design of Hispanism. The Hispano-Romans were composed of people from many different tribes of Hispania.⁴ Some famous Hispani (plural of Hispanus) were Seneca the Elder, Seneca the Younger, Lucan, Martial, Prudentius, the Roman Emperor Trajan, the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, and also Magnus Maximus and Maximus of Hispania. The etymology of the words Hispanic, Spanish, and Hispano-Roman find their origins in, Hispania, a Latin word derived from Greek.

Prior to the marriage of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon in 1469, the four Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, namely the Kingdom of Portugal, the Crown of Aragon, the Crown of Castile, and the Kingdom of Navarre, were collectively referred to as Hispania, the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula. This usage in medieval times appears to have originated in Provençal and appears to be first documented at the end of the 11th century. In the Council of Constance, the four kingdoms shared one vote.

Portugal adopted the word "Lusitanic,⁸ or "Lusitanian" to refer to its the culture and people in reference to the Lusitanians, one of the first Indo-European tribes to settle in Europe, from which later on derived the name of the Roman province of Lusitania, which was a part of Roman province of Hispania. Portugal's name in Latin is Lusitania. The expansion of the Spanish Empire between 1492 and 1898 brought thousands of Spanish migrants to the conquered lands, creating a large settlement that stretches all over the world and producing several multiracial populations. Portuguese speakers, however, are not considered "Hispanic" by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Definitions in the USA

The terms Hispanic and Latino tend to be used interchangeably in the United States even though, in some Spanish speaking countries, they are not commonly used. Latino, from American Spanish, is used in some cases as an abbreviation for Latinoamericano, referring to someone from Mexico, Central America, South America or other regions (such as parts of the Carribean) where Spanish is spoken, who is now residing in the United States.⁹ Most of the time, however Latino is used in its direct Spanish-English translation which means Latin [1] [2]. As Latinos self identify and are Latins. Latin, of course, is the language of the ancient Romans,¹⁰ from a people earlier known as Latins habitating in a region of central Italy known as Latium.

During the 1970s, various groups lobbied the United States Government to formally define Spanish speakers as "non-white Hispanics" (in disregard of actual skin color or racial background) for Census data in order to qualify them for affirmative action programs. The lobbying efforts resulted in Public Law 94-311, "Economic and Social Statistics for Americans of Spanish Origin" on June 16, 1976.¹¹¹² The 1970 Census was the first time that a "Hispanic" identifier was used and data collected with the question being modified in each successive Census. The 2000 Census placed the "Hispanic" question before the race question asking if the person was "Spanish/Hispanic/Latino" and requiring a box to be checked "No" if the person was not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino.¹³

The ethnic label Hispanic was the result of efforts by a New Mexican U.S. Senator, Joseph Montoya, who wanted a label that could be used to quantify the Spanish-speaking population for the U.S. Census.^{citation needed} The label Hispanic was chosen in part because in New Mexico people of Spanish descent such as Montoya referred to themselves as Hispanos, which was anglicized to "Hispanic."^{citation needed}

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget currently defines "Hispanic or Latino" as "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race".¹⁴

Hispanization

Hispanization is the process by which a place or a person absorbs characteristics of Hispanic society and culture.¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷ Modern hispanization of a place, namely in the United States, is illustrated by, but not limited to, Spanish language newspapers, radio stations, churches, as well as Latin restaurants, tortilla factories, panaderias (bakeries), taquerias (taco restaurants) and specialty music stores, clothing stores, and nightclubs. Hispanization of a person is illustrated by, but not limited to, speaking Spanish, making and eating Latin food, listening to Spanish language music, dressing in Santa Fe style or other Hispanic styles, and participating in Hispanic festivals and holidays. Hispanization is the opposite of assimilation. Assimilation is the process by which a minority culture absorbs characteristics of the dominant society and culture. In the United States Anglo culture has long been the dominant culture and, historically, U.S. immigrants have assimilated by the third generation. For example, by the third generation most Ukrainian-Americans have lost the ability to speak Ukrainian, make Ukrainian easter eggs, cook Ukrainian food, play Ukrainian music, or dance like a Cossack. A few immigrant groups to the U.S. have been slow to assimilate--Greeks, Chinese, and especially Hispanics.

One of the reasons why the assimilation of Hispanics in the U.S. is not comparable to that of other cultural groups is that Hispanics have been living in some parts of North America for centuries, in many cases well before the Anglo culture became dominant. For example, California, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico(1598), Arizona, Nevada and Florida have been home to Hispanic peoples since the 17th century, even before the U.S. gained independence from Great Britain. These and other Spanish-speaking territories were part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and later Mexico, before these regions joined the United States in 1848. Some cities in the U.S. were founded by Spanish settlers in the 17th century, prior to the creation of the Thirteen Colonies. For example, Pensacola and St. Augustine, Florida were founded in 1559 and 1565 respectively, Santa Fe, New Mexico was Founded in 1604, and Alburquerque, New Mexico was established in 1660. Therefore, in some parts of the U.S. the Hispanic cultural legacy is older than the Anglo-Saxon origin. For this reason many generations of U.S. Hispanics have largely maintained their cultural traditions and Spanish language.

Language retention is a common index to assimilation, and according to the 2000 census, about 75 percent of all Hispanics spoke Spanish in the home — even many Hispanics who can trace their ancestry to the original Spanish settlement of the U.S. Southwest between 1598 and 1769. Spanish language retention rates vary geographically; parts of Texas and New Mexico have language retention rates over 90 percent, whereas parts of Colorado and California have retention rates lower than 30 percent.

Hispanic retention rates are so high in parts of Texas and New Mexico and along the border because the percentage of Hispanics living there is also very high. Laredo, Texas; Chimayo, New Mexico; Nogales, Arizona and Coachella, California, for example, all have Hispanic populations greater than 90 percent. In these pockets, Hispanics have always been the majority population. These communities are known within the Hispanic community as "continuous communities" because Hispanics have continuously been the majority population since they were settled in the 16th or 17th centuries. Interestingly, Anglo Americans moving into these communities often Hispanicize, creating a situation where assimilation and Hispanization are one and the same.

Spanish Speaking Countries and Regions

Music

Folk and popular dance and music also varies greatly among Hispanics. For instance, the music from Spain is a lot different from the Hispanic American, although there is a high grade of exchange between both continents. In addition, due to the high national development of the diverse identities of Spain, there is a lot of music in the different languages the Peninsula (Catalan and Basque, mainly). See, for instance, Music of Catalonia or Rock català.

On the other side, Latin America is home to a wide variety of music, instead it's usual to speak about "Latin" music as a single genre. 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 — norteño and banda — is more influenced by country-and-western music and the polka, brought by Central European settlers to Mexico. The music of Hispanic Americans — such as tejano music — has influences in rock, jazz, R&B, pop, and country music as well as traditional Mexican music such as Mariachi. 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 en Español, Latin hip-hop, Salsa, Freestyle/Dance, and Reggaeton styles tend to appeal to the broader Hispanic population, and varieties of Cuban music are popular with many Hispanics of all backgrounds.

Literature

Religious diversity

With regard to religious affiliation among Hispanics, Christianity — specifically Roman Catholicism — is usually the first religious tradition that comes to mind. Indeed, the Spaniards took the Roman Catholic faith to Latin America, and Roman Catholicism continues to be the overwhelmingly predominant, but not the only, religious denomination amongst most Hispanics. A small but growing number of Hispanics belong to a Protestant denomination.

There are also Hispanic Jews, of which most are the descendants of Ashkenazi Jews who migrated from Europe (German Jews, Russian Jews, Polish Jews, etc.) to Latin America, particularly Argentina, Peru and Cuba (Argentina is host to the third largest Jewish population in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States and Canada)⁵⁵⁵⁶ in the 19th century and during and following World War II. Some Hispanic Jews may also originate from the small communities of reconverted descendants of anusim — those whose Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi Jewish ancestors long ago hid their Jewish ancestry and beliefs in fear of persecution by the Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition in the Iberian peninsula and Latin America. There are also the now Catholic-professing descendants of marranos and the Hispano crypto-Jews believed to exist in the once Spanish-held Southwestern United States and scattered through Latin America. Additionally, there are Sephardic Jews who are descendants of those Jews who fled Spain to Turkey, Syria, and North Africa, some of who have now migrated to Latin America, holding on to some Spanish/Sephardic customs, such as the Ladino language which mixes Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic and others, though written with Hebrew characters.⁵⁷ Though, it should be noted, that Ladinos were also African slaves captive in Spain held prior to the colonial period in the Americas. (See also History of the Jews in Latin America and List of Latin American Jews.)

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 or Native American rituals and beliefs. Such is the case of Santería, popular with Cuban Americans and which combines old African beliefs in the form of Roman Catholic saints and rituals. Other syncretistic beliefs include Spiritism and Curanderismo.

While a tiny minority, there are some Hispanic Muslims in Latin America and the US.

In the United States some 70% of U.S. Hispanics report themselves Catholic, and 23% Protestant, with 6% having no affiliation.⁵⁸ A minority among the Roman Catholics, about one in five, are charismatics. Among the Protestant, 85% are "Born-again Christians" and belong to Evangelical or Pentecostal churches. Among the smallest groups, less than 4%, are U.S. Hispanic Jews and U.S. Hispanic Muslims. Most U.S. Hispanic Muslims are recent converts.^{citation needed}

Footnotes

^ Online Etymology Dictionary Hispanic
^ Online Etymology Dictionary Hispania
^ Strategies of Distinction
^ Povos Pré-Romanos da Península Ibérica a map showing the various Pre-Roman peoples of Iberia.
^ Population History and the Islamization of the Iberian Peninsula: Skeletal Evidence from the Lower Alentejo of Portugal
^ Ask Oxford
^ Merriam Webster Online
^ MorDebe. uma Base de Dados Morfológica de Português
^ Online Etymology Dictionary Latino/Latinoamericano
^ Online Etymology Dictionary Latin
^ Public Law 94-311, "Economic and Social Statistics for Americans of Spanish Origin"
^ COLLECTION OF RACE AND ETHNICITY DATA IN THE CENSUS The National Academies Press
^ http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0075/twps0075.html#f1 Aruthur R. Crese, Audrey Dianne Schmidley and Roberto R. Ramirez. Identification of Hispanic Ethnicity in Census 2000: Analysis of Data Quality for the Question on Hispanic Origin, Population Division Working Paper No. 75, U.S. Census Bureau, July 27, 2004 [Revised July 9, 2008].
^ OMB, Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (1997)
^ Hispanic Spaces, Latino Places: Community and Cultural Diversity in Contemporary America, 2004. Edited by Dan Arreola, found in Chapter 14 "Hispanization of Hereford, Texas"
^ US Bureau of the Census, 2004 (see page 10).
^ Hispanic Community Types and Assimilation in Mex-America 1998. Haverluk, Terrence W. The Professional Geographer, 50(4) pages 465-480.
^ CIA World Factbook Language Notes
^ CIA World Factbook Ethnicity Notes
^ CIA World Factbook Spain
^ "Belize 2000 Housing and Population Census". Belize Central Statistical Office (2000). Retrieved on 2008-10-11.
^ CIA World Factbook Costa Rica
^ CIA World Factbook El Salvador
^ CIA World Factbook Guatemala
^ CIA World Factbook Honduras
^ CIA World Factbook Nicaragua
^ CIA World Factbook Panama
^ CIA World Factbook Argentina
^ CIA World Factbook Bolivia
^ CIA World Factbook Chile
^ CIA World Factbook Colombia
^ CIA World Factbook Ecuador
^ CIA World Factbook Paraguay
^ CIA World Factbook Peru
^ CIA World Factbook Uruguay
^ CIA World Factbook Venezuela
^ CIA World Factbook Cuba
^ CIA World Factbook Dominican Republic
^ CIA World Factbook Puerto Rico
^ CIA World Factbook Mexico
^ Pew Hispanic Center Growing Share of Immigrants Choosing Naturalization
^ CIA World Factbook The United States
^ Pew Hispanic Center The Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the U.S.
^ BBC News English 'world language' forecast
^ CIA World Factbook The United States
^ CIA World Factbook Equatorial Guinea
^ CIA World Factbook Western Sahara
^ Consonantal Variation of Spanish in Northern Morocco by Ruth Scipione and Lotfi Sayahi
^ Spanish Orientalism: Uses of the Past in Spain's Colonization in Africa by Ignacio Tofiño-Quesada
^ CIA World Factbook Morocco
^ CIA World Factbook Philippines
^ CIA World Factbook Northern Mariana Islands
^ CIA World Factbook Guam
^ CIA World Factbook Copyright notice
^ The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute; Annual Assessment, 2007
^ United Jewish Communities; Global Jewish Populations
^ Online Etymology Dictionary Ladino
^ Espinosa, Gastón (2003-01). "Hispanic Churches in American Public Life: Summary of Findings". Retrieved on 2006-12-27.

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