Subject and Course Guides: Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, and Latinx History in the Archives: Home

Jackie Valenciano, left, and Carol Morales of the Ballet Folklorico Azteca of Fort Worth rehearse their dance routine for Mexican Independence Day festivities at Echo Lake Park in Fort Worth, September 1982. From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Collection.

Key Terms

There are several terms used throughout the Latino and Hispanic communities and diasporas. These terms are not always interchangeable and often carry specific information about the identity of an individual and community. It is important to be mindful of these terms as they are presented in texts. When writing about members of these communities, it is important to observe how they self-identify or clarify how they identify. Multiple identities can also be used by the same individual.

Latin America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean are regions with incredible cultural and ethnic diversity. Ethnic identifiers will often precede national identifiers, such as Black Mexican, Indigenous Brazilian, Japanese Peruvian. Due to the affects of the casta system under colonization, colorism, and cultural perspectives on race and ethnicities, individuals may identify solely according to their nationality or culture or have an identity that may not align with American or western concepts of said identity. As always, it is important to follow the lead of the individual and community regarding self-identification.

The following terms serve as an introduction to popular terms used throughout the community, and is not a comprehensive listing.

Hispanic

People who come from Spanish-speaking communities and nations.

Latino

People who come from communities and nations that speak Romance languages.

Latinx/Latine/Latin@/Chicanx

These variations are used to refer to groups and communities while being gender inclusive.

_____-American

Hyphenated terms, such as Mexican-American, Haitian-American, and Colombian-American, are commonly used by immigrants or the immediate diaspora, typically to 2nd and 3rd generations of the diaspora, although many individuals still use hyphenated identities after several generations removed from migration.

Chicano

This term is commonly used by members of the Mexican diaspora who do not have familial connections to Mexico, or are several generations removed from migration. This term likely originated in California, and became widely used during the Civil Rights Era.

Tejano

This term is used by Texans of Mexican descent to denote their cultural backgrounds as being both Mexican and Texan.

Indigenous Identities

The Civil Rights movements brought about new ideas regarding the impact of Indigenous cultures on contemporary Latin-American, Central-American, Caribbean, and Mexican cultures. Many people of Mexican, Central-American, and Andean descent have genetic and cultural Indigenous ancestry. While it is important to acknowledge such backgrounds, we must not erase Indigenous identities, cultures, and communities by using Indigenous identities interchangeably with national or local identities. Indigenous rights issues are more suppressed and violence against Indigenous communities is more ignored when Indigenous identities are absorbed into local and national identities, as the removal of unique Indigenous identities makes it more difficult to acknowledge unique issues within said communities.

As an example: The state of Oaxaca in Mexico is home to several indigenous groups, such as the Zapotec. However, not everyone in Oaxaca is Zapotec, and these identifiers cannot be used interchangeably unless an individual identifies as Zapotec.

Other Terms

Identities can vary from family member to family member, and variation is even greater between different nationalities and ethnicities. As always, it is important to pay attention to how an individual identifies or ask for clarification in a respectful manner.

References

Recovering History, Constructing Race: the Indian, Black, and white roots of Mexican Americans
The history of Mexican Americans is a history of the intermingling of races - Indian, White and Black. This racial history underlies a legacy of racial discrimination against Mexican Americans and their Mexican ancestors that stretches from the Spanish conquest to current battles over ending affirmative action and other assistance programmes for ethnic minorities. Asserting the centrality of race in Mexican American history, Martha Menchaca here offers an interpretative racial history of Mexican Americans, focusing on racial foundations and race relations from pre-Hispanic times to the present.
E 184.M5 M46 2001
Race and ethnicity in Latin America
For over ten years, Race and Ethnicity in Latin America has been an essential text for students studying the region. This second edition adds new material and brings the analysis up to date. Race and ethnic identities are increasingly salient in Latin America. Peter Wade examines changing perspectives on Black and Indian populations in the region, tracing similarities and differences in the way these peoples have been seen by academics and national elites. Race and ethnicity as analytical concepts are re-examined in order to assess their usefulness. This book should be the first port of call for anthropologists and sociologists studying identity in Latin America.
Available online.
Pigmentocracies: ethnicity, race, and color in Latin America
Pigmentocracies--the fruit of the multiyear Project on Ethnicity and Race in Latin America (PERLA)--is a richly revealing analysis of contemporary attitudes toward ethnicity and race in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, four of Latin America's most populous nations. Based on extensive, original sociological and anthropological data generated by PERLA, this landmark study analyzes ethnoracial classification, inequality, and discrimination, as well as public opinion about Afro-descended and indigenous social movements and policies that foster greater social inclusiveness, all set within an ethnoracial history of each country. A once-in-a-generation examination of contemporary ethnicity, this book promises to contribute in significant ways to policymaking and public opinion in Latin America.
Central Library collection, GN 562 .T45 2014
Race and Ethnicity in Latin American History
In "Race and Ethnicity in Latin American History", Vincent Peloso traces the story of ethnicity and race in Latin America from the sixteenth century to the contemporary period. In a short, synthetic narrative, he lays the groundwork for students to understand how the history of colonial racism is connected to the problems of racism in today’s Latin American societies. With features including timelines, plentiful maps and illustrations, and boxes highlighting important historical figures, the text provides a clear and accessible introduction to the complex subject of race and ethnicity in the history of Latin America.
Available online.
Imperial subjects: race and identity in colonial Latin America
In colonial Latin America, social identity did not correlate neatly with fixed categories of race and ethnicity. As Imperial Subjects demonstrates, from the early years of Spanish and Portuguese rule, understandings of race and ethnicity were fluid. In this collection, historians offer nuanced interpretations of identity as they investigate how Iberian settlers, African slaves, Native Americans, and their multi-ethnic progeny understood who they were as individuals, as members of various communities, and as imperial subjects. The contributors' explorations of the relationship between colonial ideologies of difference and the identities historical actors presented span the entire colonial period and beyond: from early contact to the legacy of colonial identities in the new republics of the nineteenth century. The volume includes essays on the major colonial centers of Mexico, Peru, and Brazil, as well as the Caribbean basin and the imperial borderlands.
General Library collection F 1408.3 .I57 2009
Racial Identity and Racial Treatment of Mexican Americans
How racial barriers play in the experiences of Mexican Americans has been hotly debated. Some consider Mexican Americans similar to European Americans of a century ago that arrived in the United States with modest backgrounds but were eventually able to participate fully in society. In contrast, others argue that Mexican Americans have been racialized throughout U.S. history and this limits their participation in society. The evidence of persistent educational disadvantages across generations and frequent reports of discrimination and stereotyping support the racialization argument. In this paper, we explore the ways in which race plays a role in the lives of Mexican Americans by examining how education, racial characteristics, social interactions, relate to racial outcomes.
Available online,