"Why do people keep writing 'Latinx'? And yikes, how do you pronounce it?"

Alright, deep breath. It's the 10th & final edition of my Mexican X series for 2018 (& for 7 Reed ... the Mesoamerican calendar aligns with ours this year).

MEXICAN X PART X: WHAT THE HEX A LATINX? 1/?

So let's start with the land we all live on in the Western Hemisphere. There aren't any perfect indigenous words to use. Turtle Island has been proposed as a term many First Nations in "North America" feel comfortable with for their continent, as it ties into their beliefs. 2/

The Anahuacah (also Nahuatlacah or "Aztecs") thought of the world as being surrounded by a great cosmic sea. They called that contiguous land mass "Cemanahuac" (sem ah NAH wahk), literally "all [the land] beside the waters." Some folk suggest it as a term for the "Americas." 3/

You probably have heard the origin of the word "America." Amerigo Vespucci, a naturalized Castilian, was the first European to realize that these two connected continents weren't part of Asia. In Latin his name is Americus. The female version is America. Spain liked that. 4/

Though the continent(s) might be America, a good chunk of them, after Conquest, were simply part of the Spanish Empire, known historically as la Monarquía Hispánica or The Hispanic Monarchy. Why "Hispanic"? Because the Latin word for "Iberia" was "Hispania." Spain like that. 5/

It was a big empire. To manage it, the monarchs set up divisions, like the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which included what is now Mexico, plus the current U.S. Southwest and Louisiana, part of British Columbia, Central America, the Caribbean, the Philippines, and Guam. 6/

A ton of territory to control. Things began slipping through the monarchs' fingers & then, after war gripped Europe in the late 1700s and democratic revolutions spread, the remaining territories of New Spain won their independence in the first two decades of the 19th century. 7/

Now here's the deal. What do you call all these newly independent nations? They each have a separate identity, but because of Conquest and mestizaje, they also share an elusive "something." Imposed Spanish language & culture, blended and adapted, but similar. Hispanic America? 8/

This never sat right with folx. Hadn't they broken with Spain? In the 1830s, a French dude named Saint-Simonian Michel Chevalier started saying the citizens of these countries were a "Latin race" that should ally with "Latin Europe" against "Teutonic Europe" & Anglo America. 9/

This idea percolated for a while, and in 1856 Chilean politician Francisco Bilbao spoke about “los destinos de la raza Latino-Americana” & Colombian writer José María Torres Caicedo also used "Latin America" in his poem "The Two Americas." This umbrella term had a purpose. 10/

It was the term used by the French Empire of Napoleon III during its invasion of Mexico. "Latin America" includes France as a nation influencing the former Spanish territories. It also excludes Anglophone countries. Napoleon III wanted cultural ties with former New Spain. 11/

He wanted France to become the key cultural and political force in Latin America, especially since he was looking to set up Maximilian of Habsburg as emperor of the Second Mexican Empire. So you see, Latin America is as fraught as Hispanic America had been. Still, it stuck. 12/

Remember, light-skinned "criollos" were still at the helm in most of these countries, and lots of them were IN LOVE with France, French art and literature, Parisian clothing, etc. Just read books from the late 19th century. Everyone keeps dropping "je ne sais quoi"s and shit. 13/

Okay, fast-forward a few decades. Mexican-Americans / Chicanos are already a part of the US (damn border crossed right over our tatarabuelos), but with the influx of our primos from the rest of Latin America, there's a need for an umbrella term, even for the existing raza. 14/

I mean, we had tejanos (from Texas), californianos (duh), and hispanos (from New Mexico). Unifying those is what gave us Mexican American and Chicano. But another term was needed. After WWII, some of us tried "Latin American Citizens" (see LULAC) to emphasize assmiliation. 15/

But the government really preferred to link us to Spain, so it was more common to hear us referred to collectively as Hispanic or Spanish American. But it wasn't until the 1970 Census that the identifier "Hispanic" was used and data collected on the number of "Hispanics." 16/

But for the same reason "Hispanic America" had been reject a century and a half earlier, lots of us rejected "Hispanic" as a label (to be sure, others rejected it because they don't want to be lumped together with people whose ancestors came from different countries). 17/

One solution was to use "Latino" as a sort of shortening of "latinoamericano." If you or your family came from a Latin American country, then you qualify as Latino, the argument goes. It's no longer about connection to Spain, but to a place in this hemisphere. 18/

Obviously, a given Latino person would also be Mexican or Cuban or Peruvian or whatever. But "Latino" ensured a sort of political solidarity. Strength in numbers. Common cause en la lucha.

So of course the government coopted it, right? Officially adopted the term in 1997. 19/

Not in place of "Hispanic." Alongside it. "Because regional usage of the terms differs – Hispanic is commonly used in the eastern portion of the United States, whereas Latino is commonly used in the western portion." Huh? Okay. Way to not get it, US Government. 20/

Almost there, raza. Hang on. Let's take stock of these two terms.

Hispanic.

You/your ancestors came from a Spanish-speaking country formerly belonging to the Hispanic Monarchy. Argentine, Cuban, Colombian, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican, Costa Rican, Guatemalan ... 21/

Honduran, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, Salvadoran, Bolivian, Spanish, Chilean, Ecuadorian, Paraguayan, Peruvian, Uruguayan, and Venezuelan.

And, yeah, Spanish. Yikes.

(This is why I personally dislike this term. It is too linked to colonialism for my comfort.) 22/

Latino.

You/your ancestors came from a Latin American country. That means you're from Mexico, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central, or South America. Your people might speak French, Portuguese, or Spanish.

(Personally, of the 2 options, I prefer this.) 23/

Now, given those two (admittedly imperfect and fraught) options, there are other dimensions to the use of "Latino." It's marked masculine. So we began to include "Latina" in English (much like folx might shout "brava" to an opera singer in the US). Good first step. But! 24/

Think about gender coding in English. Once it was fine to say "mankind," but, yeah, screw that. It's humanity. Men are not the most important gender. They shouldn't be the default.

Spanish (unlike lots of indigenous languages like, say, Nahuatl) marks gender. 25/

And that's okay, generally speaking. But it doesn't have a gender-neutral way of referring to a group of mixed-gender people. The plural masculine is used. Which, okay, it's a deep feature of the language, but that's no reason to just accept it, right? Why? Tradition? Whose? 26/

This problem was first noticed by Spanish speakers in Latin America. Different ways to get around it have been devised. "Las ciudadanas y los ciudadanos," a politician might say. "Ciudadano/as," you might have seen written in the 90s. Then it became "ciudadan@s" for some. 27/

In the late 90s, protest signs in parts of Latin America started just sticking an "x" in place of the vowel. "Ciudadanxs Unidxs," you might have seen. No one intended for this to be pronounced as a /ks/ sound.

In fact, some in Latin America started pronouncing it /e/. 28/

[This will come as a shock to those of you who insist the "x" of Latinx is some gringo or assimilated leftist "Hispanic" invention to destroy la lengua materna o no sé qué rollo. US folx adapted it, but didn't invent it.] 29/

This move toward dismantling the default masculine is called inclusive language. And it doesn't just stop with wanting to find a plural form that will include male and female genders. Not all human beings are male or female.

There are non-binary or "genderqueer" folx, too. 30/

So, in the US, as we struggled to find a way to make Latino/a plural, we hit upon a solution that includes our non-binary siblings as well.

Latinx.

It can be either pronounced using the same pattern as Latino (lah TEE nex, my preference) or in English (LAT in ex). 31/

And guess what? YOU DO NOT HAVE TO USE IT.

You don't have to use Hispanic. You don't have to use Latino or Latina or Latinx or (please let this win out) LATINE.

You can be Chicano or Mexican American or Boricua or WHATEVER CHINGADOS you want to be.

But, get this, friend. 32/

You don't have the power / authority to stop others from using WHATEVER CHINGADOS they want for themselves or to refer to the nebulous collective we [mostly] mestizo folx from Cemanahuac make up.

I mean, we're all willing to hear your suggestions. Just don't be assholes. 33/

Here's one example. Activists in Mexico and the US Southwest have suggested "Nican tlacah," Nahuatl for "the people from here."

But wouldn't that just be imposing another non-universal language on the rest of the Latin Americans who don't have any "Aztec" heritage? 34/

There are no easy solutions to this, amigxs, amigues mies, queridas amistades.

But that doesn't mean we should stop trying. And we should do it all with a spirit of respect, a desire to understand, a big-heartedness and acceptance of differences.

Give it a shot, raza. 35/35

Addendum #1.

Another possible pronunciation for Latinx has been pointed out: lah-TEENKS.

I'd never heard that, but, sure, why not?

Addendum #2.

The point of "Latino/a/x" isn't as a primary term of identification (though a reminder to y'all not to judge folx who WANT it to be their prime label: that's their prerogative.), but as a secondary term of solidarity.

So I'm Mexican American first, Latino second.

Addendum #3.

La RAE se puede ir a la mierda/chingada.

I have combined, expanded, and revised this thread into a Medium article. https://medium.com/@davidbowles/mexican-x-part-x-what-the-hex-a-latinx-706b64dafe22

If you've made it this far down and want to read more stuff like this, check out the rest of my Mexican X series: https://twitter.com/DavidOBowles/status/1044069265689759744

Addendum # 4: Clarification on post # 28 above. I'm not suggesting that "Latinx" arose outside the US. Clearly US Latinx folx coined the term. But sources in Latin America say the "x" was used to strike out the "ox" in feminist protest posters in late 90s to early 2000s 1/2

For a few examples of this claim, look through the comments on the below (otherwise horrible) article: https://swarthmorephoenix.com/2015/11/19/the-argument-against-the-use-of-the-term-latinx/?fbclid=IwAR0Ot1mweuveA7zJydurBwkAXspr2zPhB3w61MmV-OrWcd_3Pk67HeC2Lpg

Regardless of whether the "x" began in Latin America or not, however, I want to caution EVERYONE against the arrogant supposition that Latin Americans needed US Latinx folx to teach them Spanish has sexist elements. They figured that shit out for themselves before we did.

Addendum # 5. I didn't include every country that should be on the list for Latin America & Latinx, so here's a map of all of them (basically sovereign nations and territories in the Americas that use French, Spanish or Portuguese).

Update: I am writing a book on this term. More details (the press, projected publication date) will be announced very soon!