A friend of mine recently confided in me that she has no idea how to refer to brown people. Is it Latino or Hispanic and what's the difference? She also asked me if Hispanic is a derogatory term and are Brazilians Latino. There is a lot of confusion about this perhaps in part due to the historical significance of each term but perhaps also because language is alive and the terms that we use continue changing and reshaping as we use them.
I would like to give you my perspective on this as a Latina and a Hispanic woman. First, to understand the contemporary meaning of each term and their psychological and emotional triggers, let's with their historical etymology.
Latino and Hispanic are both colonial-ascribed terms that. Hispanic refers to people who are of Spanish-speaking descent or hispano-hablantes. Latino refers to people of Latin-colonized American descent, including Brazilians.
Hispanic is always linked to Spain and was a term developed in the 1970's by a United States Government Task Force set out to clarify and define racial and ethnic populations in the U.S. Latino is a longtime used term that has been used by Latinos to describe themselves. However, it was not until a 2000 United States Census that this term was widely-used on a government document. This lead to prolonged media and academic debate on the distinctions and proper use of each term as well as the effect that these terms may have in homogenizing a diverse population.
In this lies the root of each ethnonym. "Hispanic" is what linguists call an exonym or a term created to describe an ethnic group by an outside group. "Latino" is an endonym or a term created and used to describe a group by the group itself.
It is very telling that terms like Hispanic are often perceived as derogatory. It speaks volumes as to how Hispanics are depicted on the media, TV and in the political arena.
Growing up in Arizona, it was hard for me to relate to the term "Hispanic" where I often heard the word being used in a negative or demeaning way. I knew that I was supposed to check off "Hispanic" whenever I took a state test at school but it never felt right to call myself Hispanic. Then when I was around 10, I came across a magazine at my friend Lindsay's house called Latina Magazine. It was the first time I saw an entire publication celebrating Latina women. I saw girls with a whole range of complexions and Spanish phrases were included in the writing. My young mind was blown.
Around the same time Jennifer Lopez starred in a movie called Selena. I remember feeling a fascinating discomfort in my 10-year-old body as I sat there in the theatre. There was an unspoken understanding that I and many other Hispanics in America understood very well at that time. That speaking Spanish and being "out" with my Latin American roots were things to hide as they could put me at a social and educational disadvantage and if you could pass as white then you did so without question.
So there I was in a theater where the Latino stars on the screen were playing a Mexican family, they were speaking Spanish and they were out and open about their culture for everyone in the theatre to see. I was excited but simultaneously embarrassed for them. I experienced conflicting emotions that I could not yet articulate because I did not have enough life experience to contextualize them.
A couple of years later came Ricky Martin with his big hit "Livin' La Vida Loca" and Shakira followed suit soon after. I remember everyone calling them "crossover artists" and even that description felt so loaded. The New York City-based shows 106 and Park and TRL also began interviewing wide-eyed musicians who described themselves at "Latino."
As I started seeing more and more positive Latino role-models who I could identify my identity and the esteem I had about my culture began to shift. I started to connect deeper within myself and I was not ashamed to speak Spanish in the mall or to listen to Ricardo Arjona with the volume pumped up. In short, I was not ashamed to be me.
To this day, I prefer to describe myself as Latina (Latino with an -o is a masculine term used to describe men) over hispanic. Perhaps for all of the reasons I mentioned or perhaps for reasons unknown. There is an online movement amongst bloggers and activists to use the gender neutral "Latin@" whose symbol at the end structurally encompasses both the -a and the -o.
Then there are also people who prefer to use the gender-neutral and not quite geographically accurate yet widely understood terms "Latin" and "Spanish". Latino, Hispanic, Latin@, Spanish and Latin are all correct and non-derrogatory. However, while there might be a historical basis for race and ethnicity, they are both social constructs. People are so much more complex than their racial or ethnic identities, and we will always encounter issues when using terms that are supposed to neatly fit humans into groups.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, The Huffington Post asked celebrated figures in the community to write about Hispanic heroes who have shaped their lives and/or how their heritage has made an impact on their lives and careers. We will be sharing their stories throughout the month. But we know they're not alone. If you'd like to share your own story, email us at latinovoices@huffingtonpost.com.
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