Hispanic is used to refer to modern Spain, and to the Castilian language, and to the Spanish speaking nations of the Americas.[3][4]
- Spanish is used to refer to the Castilian language, the culture and the people of Spain (narrowing of meaning)
- Spaniard is used to refer to the people of Spain (narrowing of meaning).
Prior to the marriage of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand 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"[dubious – discuss] or "Lusitanian" 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. 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 US Census Bureau.
Definitions in the USA
- Further information: Racial demographics of the United States and Race and ethnicity in the United States Census and History of Latinos and Hispanics in the United States
During the 1970s, the United States Government defined the term "Hispanic" to identify Latin American individuals, and their descendants, living in the U.S., regardless of race.[5]
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 US Census. 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 as "Hispanic".
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".[6]
The terms Hispanic and Latino tend to be used interchangeably in the United States, due largely to a syntax inconsistency between the English language and the Spanish language.[citation needed] Some define the term "Latino" as a shortened version of the noun '"Latin American". Others define the word "Latin" as the name of the language used by the ancient Romans, while "Latino" is the name given to the people who spoke the language.
Hispanization
Hispanization is the process by which a place or a person absorbs characteristics of Hispanic society and culture.[7][8][9] Hispanicization of a place is illustrated by, but not limited to, Latin restaurants, tortilla factories, panaderias (bakeries), taquerias (taco restaurants); Spanish language churches, newspapers, radio stations, as well as 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.
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 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; and Nogales, Arizona, 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. Interestingly, Anglos moving into these communities often Hispanicize, creating a situation where assimilation and Hispanization are one and the same.
Hispanosphere
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Main article: Hispanosphere
During the Spanish colonial period between 1492 to 1898, many people from Spain migrated to new lands they had conquered. The Spaniards brought with them their language and culture, and integrated with the society they had settled, creating a large empire that stretched all over the world and producing several multiracial populations. Their descendants are found in the following continents and countries that were originally colonized by the Spanish people.
Today, the Hispanosphere consists of:
Music
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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 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
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There is a huge variety of literature from US Hispanics and the Hispanic countries. Of the most recognized writers are Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Gabriel García Márquez, Rubén Darío, and Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar, Pablo Neruda and Ernesto Sabato, amongst others.
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)[10][11] 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. (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.[12] 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
- ^ http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?LEMA=hispano&origen=RAE 1
- ^ Povos Pré-Romanos da Península Ibérica a map showing the various Pre-Roman peoples of Iberia.
- ^ Ask Oxford
- ^ Merriam Webster Online
- ^ http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056.htm Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For The United States, Regions, Divisions, and States
- ^ 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.
- ^ The Jewish People Policy Planning Institute; Annual Assessment, 2007
- ^ United Jewish Communities; Global Jewish Populations
- ^ Espinosa, Gastón (2003-01). Hispanic Churches in American Public Life: Summary of Findings. Retrieved on 2006-12-27.
References
See also
External links
de:Hispanics es:Hispano fr:Hispanisme ko:히스패닉 he:היספנים id:Hispanik nl:Hispanics ja:ヒスパニック pt:Hispânicos sr:Хиспано tr:Hispanik
