(CNN Spanish) -
The ways in which people in Latin America identify themselves have changed over time.
And, in addition, these ways change depending on the geographical location.
According to Mark Hugo Lopez, director of race and ethnicity at the Pew Research Center, the Latino population living in their home countries prefers to be called by their nationality.
Mexican, Argentine, Colombian, Chilean, Ecuadorian, Panamanian, Costa Rican people and a long etcetera.
On the other hand, the Latin American population living in the United States also prefers to be named by their nationality of origin;
however, there are three "pan-ethnic" terms that are popular in the United States: Hispanic;
Latino or Latina;
and latinx.
"There are three terms that are popular in the United States. But in reality the majority of the Hispanic population prefers to identify with Hispanic, it is the most popular term; the second is Latino or Latino; and only 3% (of that population) say that he prefers to use Latinx, "Hugo Lopez explained in an interview with CNN.
Likewise, the new Latino migrants arriving in the United States are unaware of some of the terms and prefer to be called by their nationality of origin, added the official of the Pew Research Center.
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It is clear that the preferences are diverse.
However, behind each word there is a historical and cultural process that gives even more relevance to the issue of identity in the context of Hispanic Heritage Month.
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Hispanic
Mark Hugo Lopez noted that it was in the 1970s that the term "Hispanic" began to become more popular.
This coincides with the dates on which what is now known as Hispanic Heritage Month was established.
The United States government, under the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, started Hispanic Heritage Week in 1968 and President Ronald Reagan expanded it in 1988 to a full month of celebration.
This can be seen, said Hugo Lopez, as the institutionalization by the government of the term Hispanic.
However, he stressed, the civil rights movement in the United States was the one that fought from before for a pan-ethnic term that would describe the population of Latin America in the country.
The Hispanic Heritage Month and the term Hispanic, therefore, have diversified into many areas: at first, it was something that the government began to expand with greater force, but now it reaches many levels.
This month, which runs from September 15 to October 15, is "to celebrate the independence of the Latin American countries, but also the heritage of the Latino population in the United States. It is a celebration of the government, but also now it is a celebration of the companies, the productions, the universities ... So, it refers to all the part of the Latin production in the United States.
The term "Hispanic", a complex idea
This is the general picture of the word "Hispanic" for the last 50 years.
However, there is a whole historical process behind the term.
Verónica López Nájera, a doctor in Latin American Studies and an academic at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), indicated that the term is the result of a process of discovery, conquest and colonization that takes place in America since 1492.
"At that time these new lands are going to be named in different ways, one of those can be New World, Spanish America, West Indies, or Hispanic America, which refers particularly to the Crown that conquered and dominated and colonized them. territories. We are talking about the Spanish Crown, "said López Nájera in an interview with CNN.
From then on, the expert added, she referred as Hispanic to everything with a "Spanish cultural, ideological, religious, linguistic heritage," the opposite of that of Brazil, which was conquered by the Portuguese Crown.
With the independence of the American countries in the 19th century, a process began to separate itself from everything related to the "colonial yoke".
"It was necessary to detach ourselves, cut the tie, overcome the domination that the Spanish Crown had subjected to these lands for 300 years. And then there is a rejection of the concept or the idea of assuming ourselves as Hispanics," said the UNAM academic.
Latin
So, the idea of Latin and Latin America begins in countries that had a common past, but now assume themselves as autonomous and sovereign states.
"The Latin finally emerged in the mid-nineteenth century, precisely as a result of this search and cultural differentiation of the Hispanic, but also of the Anglo-Saxon, of the North American, we are America, but we do not belong to the same culture as North America. We are something else, we are South America, we have another identity. Our culture is a Latin heritage that has a language, that has a religion, that has a specific worldview and that no longer corresponds to the Anglo ", stressed the PhD in Studies Latin Americans.
Therefore, Latino, Latina and in general the idea of Latin America arises under this process of distancing itself from both Hispanic and Anglo-Saxon.
The widespread use of the term Latino and Latina, according to Mark Hugo Lopez, appears in the 1990s, with the celebration of Hispanic Heritage extended to a full month.
Therefore, this is also something that the United States government institutionalizes, but with greater force in the universities, where they seek a term to distance themselves from the Hispanic.
"These are terms that were very popular in universities. Teachers want a term that does not look like Hispanic," said Hugo Lopez, adding that in this same American academic context of the 90s, the term "Latinx" also arises with in order to have a gender neutral concept.
Latinx
Students and teachers "prefer a term like Latinx because it is not masculine, it is not feminine and it is neutral, in this case of gender, and they want an alternative one. So Latino, Latina and Latinx are from the 90s and the universities in the United States to have Hispanic alternatives to describe this population, "said the director of the Pew Research Center.
In addition, he added that this is about a youth movement that is not only located in the United States but throughout the world.
The difference is that "latinx" is a term that comes directly from the English language (pronounced
latinex
), while its adaptation to Spanish can be found as "latine".
Dr. López Nájera points out that these variations arise as a way of resignifying identities in a context such as the current one, where respect for gender equality is increasingly being sought.
"It seems to me that what (the term Latinx) tries to do is give an account of this Latino but inclusive identity, including sexual diversity, ethnic diversity, geographic diversity, socioeconomic diversity. But I think it would mostly have to do with gender diversity that began to be considered as something already important in the redefinition agenda from the 90's, when the x or the at symbol began to be used to destabilize this conception of the masculine gender as the gender that is universal or that identifies both genders, "explained the UNAM academic.
Possible increase in its use in the future
The use of "Latinx" by the Latin American population in the US is still low.
According to the Pew Reseach Center, one in four Latinos in the United States has heard of the word, but only 3% of them say they prefer to use it to identify themselves.
Despite this, Hugo Lopez considers that it is possible that the word will be more used in the future, precisely because of the context mentioned by López Nájera.
"There is a movement in general, not only in the United States, but also in Latin America and the world in general to change languages, to have terms and alternatives that are not masculine or feminine, that do not have gender. And then I think that with Latinx it is possible that we can have a growth in the use of this term ", concluded the director of race and ethnicity of the Pew Research Center.
Hispanic Heritage Month tag
