"Are you Hispanic or Latina?"
I struggle with this. I struggle with the word Hispanic. I struggle with Hispanic Heritage month being split between two months. And most recently... I struggle with Hispanic and Latino being used interchangeably.
So I set out to see what the interwebs thought. First, let's dig into some definitions. According to Websters dictionary:
Hispanic -
1 : of, relating to, or being a person of Latin American descent and especially of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin living in the U.S.
2 : of or relating to the people, speech, or culture of Spain
Latino -
1 : a native or inhabitant of Latin America
2 : a person of Latin American origin living in the U.S.
There are definitely duplications in both definitions.
Hispanic - of, relating to, or being a person of Latin American descent" and especially of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin living in the U.S.
Latino - a person of Latin American origin living in the U.S.
I can see how it's easy to confuse the two. There's one portion that clearly does not transfer from one word to the other:
Hispanic - "of or relating to the people, speech, or culture of Spain"
I haven't had the opportunity to visit Spain but my gut tells me what's left over from the colonizers in present day Latin America is the language & religion (Christianity/Catholicism).
I fell deeper into the rabbit hole. I found a dope Vox post from 2016 by Terry Blas breaking down the difference between the two. Spoiler alert: In the end he identifies as both Latino & Hispanic. That still felt off to me & I kept digging. Here are other definitions I found:
"Hispanic if you and/or your ancestry come from a country where they speak Spanish. Latino refers to geography. Specifically, to Latin America, to people from the Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic), South America (Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, etc.) and Central America (Honduras, Costa Rica, etc.)" - Diffen.com
""Hispanic" is generally accepted as a narrower term that includes people only from Spanish-speaking Latin America, including those countries/territories of the Caribbean or from Spain itself. With this understanding, a Brazilian could be Latino and non-Hispanic, a Spaniard could be Hispanic and non-Latino, and a Colombian could use both terms. However, this is also an imperfect categorization, as there are many indigenous peoples from Spanish-speaking countries who do not identify with Spanish culture and do not speak the dominant language." - Britannica.com
"The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defines "Hispanic or Latino" as a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." - Census.gov
"Latinx is a gender-neutral term that is used as an alternative to Latino/a. It refers to people whose origin or ancestry is in Latin America and excludes Spain. Geographic location is what separates this term from Hispanic or Spanish. ... The word Hispanic refers to people of Spanish-speaking descent." - Latina.com
These definitions left me confundida AF. Naturally, I took to it social media to find clarity. Here are the results:
"Are the words Latino/a/x & Hispanic interchangeable?"
Twitter
Claro que sí - 23%
Nah - 77%
Instagram -
Claro que sí - 22%
Nah - 78%
I'm no where near done with researching this topic (let us not forget Afro-Latinism as an identity. So much more to come on that). In the interim, here's my unsolicited advice:
For my non-Latino friends, ask if there's a preference. Don't assume one over the other. To my Latino friends, don't take on a label you don't identify with.
My preference? Afro-Latina/Latina > Hispanic all day. JM.
