On Latino/a/x, Spanish, and Hispanic terms. [A thread on how I use them]

Latino/a/x refers to people of Latin American descent. I differentiate between USA Latino/a/x and Latin American because they are very different identities.

Latinx is a gender neutral term used in English. Latine is its equivalent in Spanish.

“Hispanic” refers to Spanish-speaking people. So, this term includes people from Spain, who are not considered to be Latin American nor USA Latinos/as/x. So, no, Rosalía ain’t Latina.

“Hispanic” doesn’t include Brazilians and other non-Spanish speaking Latin Americans.

“Spanish” refers to (1) the Spanish language (noun), (2) a person from Spain (i. e. Spaniard), or (3) it could be used as an adjective (e. g. Spanish culture = culture from Spain).

So, no, I’m not Spanish, but Rosalía is.

The terms Hispanic and Latino have problematic aspects, particularly the former. One of the critiques is how this identifier centers Spanish whiteness. Also, many USA Latinos/as/x don’t speak Spanish, and it also excludes Latin Americans from non-Spanish speaking countries.

Similarly, Latinidad, particularly in the USA, has been constructed in very white terms, erasing Black and Indigenous Latinos/as/x.

For all those reasons, many of us have use other identifiers (e. g. Afro-Boricua, Caribbean, Zapotec, Afro-Taína, Black, etc.). A pan-ethnic term will always be imperfect but it also provides a connection point for our communities.

Also note that Hispanic, Latin American, Latino/a/x, and Spanish are NOT racial categories.

You can be a Black Spanish-speaking Latina. You can be an indigenous Latin American person who speaks Quechua. You can be a white Cuban-American who doesn’t speak Spanish.