What are the origins/uses of these words and which are more polite/preferred?
Latino and Hispanic are synonyms but Hispanic is more PC. Chicano specifically refers to Mexicans. Unless you’re a Mexican yourself I’d avoid calling Mexicans Chicanos.
Hispanic and Latino are apocopes of, respectively, Hispanic (American) and Latinoamerican. They’re pretty much equivalent, although a Spaniard is more likely to consider himself Hispanic than Latino (and also a Spaniard would be hispano but not hispanoamericano). The exact definitions vary: I’ve met Brazilians who considered themselves part of this group, others that would have taken offence; never met a Portuguese who included himself in either group but who knows.
Chicano is a distortion of Mexican and refers to US Citizens of Mexican origin. Those whose ancestors lived in what’s now the Southwest when the border jumped over their heads sometimes refer to themselves as “chicano viejo”, old chicano, to differentiate from those who immigrated.
Like many racial/cultural labels, whether they’re despective or not depends on tone and context.
Chicano also has the connotation of being politically aware or active in working to end oppression of Mexican-Americans, for example in working to unionize migrant workers, fight back against discriminatory policing and racial profiling, etc.
Huh. My (admittedly few) Latino friends told me to call them that. Is it similar to how most black Americans do not want to be called African American?
@BigT: I don’t have any fully white friends. In Arizona, just about everyone is Hispanic. I’ve never heard them refer to themselves as Latino. /shrug Experiences may differ, of course.
Actually, as I ponder the nuances, here’s what I come up with:
Hispanic: From (or descended from those from) a Spanish-speaking country. As Nava said, can include those from Spain.
Latino: Here in L.A., the preferred term. Refers to anyone from (or descended from those from) a Spanish-speaking country in the Americas. Technically excludes those from Spain, Cuba, or the Spanish Caribbean.
Chicano: Mexican-American, with the connotation I mentioned above regarding political activism.
From the Spanish Caribbean, and I’ve never considered that term excludes people from our region. Always considered Latin America to be all countries in both North* and South America colonized by either Spain or Portugal.
Also, during high school, one of the earliest essays where I saw the term Latin America, were written by this guy here, who was from my island. And he certainly included the Caribbean when he used that term!
*Central America and Caribbean included in North America.
Well, my friends were a bit eccentric. In fact, most of my friends today are, too. My best friend my senior year identified herself as a Latina, and objected to being called Hispanic, claiming that implied that she came from Spain. She told me to say Latino, and no one else has ever objected. But, come to think of it, I’ve never really had that conversation with anyone else. Perhaps most of my friends just don’t care enough to say anything.
Or, maybe you’re right, and it’s just different depending on where you are.
Your best bet is to use the country if possible. Nobody from Brazil will object to being called Brazilian. The more general you get (and the more you refer to race as opposed to origin), the more opportunity there seems to be for offense.
As an example, I have a friend who is an Oglala Indian. He’s fine being called Oglala or Lakota. His reaction to being called Sioux depends on context. He calls himself Indian, but his reaction to other people calling him Indian depends on context and tone. “Native American” bothers him.
This is the best advice so far!
My Mexican (not Mexican-American) wife definitely calls herself “latina” and not “hispanic.” She says “chicano” is something she’d never use, and that it’s a north-americanism (meaning to her, the USA).
Great! I’ve been look for a way to describe these sorts. Actually I know a couple, but they just call themselves “native Texans” or something.
Just how, though, does one distort “Mexican” into “chicano”?
Personally, I don’t think I’d ever use the word “chicano” unless the person started using it himself. I’d use “mexicano” if I knew that person to be Mexican or even of Mexican descent. I suppose some people may be offended by that if their second- or third-generation and don’t want to be associated with some false stigma of being Mexican, but I feel that if I can be English/German/Norweigan after all these generations, they can still be Mexican. (Of course, not quite the same, being that “Mexicans” are Spanish, Indians, or mestizos).
Mexican>Mexicano>Xicano>Chicano.
Hispanics are Republicans, Latinos and Chicanos are Democrats.
It seems to me that if you are average looking, you are likely to be called “Hispanic” but if you are good looking, you’re a “Latina” or a “Latino”.
My family’s from Mexico. Personally, I prefer Hispanic as Mexico was part of the Spanish Empire and there’s likely Spanish blood in many people there, including my family. I dislike Chicano, mostly due to my family which still has strong ties there. From an older relative, “Chicano? What the hell is that? If you’re Mexican, you’re Mexican. Do the Chinese go and call themselves something different?” As for Latino, I find it unacceptable. Yes, Spanish is a Romance language based on Latin. So, why aren’t Italians called Latino or the French? As soon as Leonardo Di Caprio and Gérard Depardieu are called Latino, I’ll accept it.
My neighborhood used to be heavily Puerto Rican and they definately would call themselves Latinos. There were a few women that objected to Latino and wanted Latina.
Hispanci and Latino is also losing meaning as it’s becoming less and less related to the Spanish culture.
I know of Native Americans with NO Spanish or European hertigage refer to themselves as Hispanic or Latino simply because they were born in Mexico or Guatemala or Peru, or wherever
So it’s becoming more about where you were born and less about what your ethnic heritage is.
Ha! You kids are good times.
I generally use the term “Hispanic” because it’s the most encompassing. Maggie got it right in her reply. Latino is only slightly more specific than Hispanic, and Chicano refers to a very specific group of Mexican-Americans. I sure hope no one thinks I’m suggesting I think they’re ugly (or worse yet Republican ;)) when I refer to them as Hispanic.
My Brazilian family members do not call themselves Hispanic. Perhaps it is the similarity with the word “Spanish” and the fact that Brazil has Portuguese ancestry.
They consider themselves “Latino” whenever filling out forms. And my wife refers to friends from the Caribbean as Latino as well.
“Chicano” also has an art connotation - there’s “Chicano art”, which evidently Cheech Marin is a big collector of and expert upon, which seems to be different from, say, Latino or Hispanic art in the sense that it seems to be “about” life as a Spanish-descended person in America. I think. Chicano is not a term you ever hear here in the South, and I’ve gotten the impression it’s a little outdated, like “Afro-American”.
I should make a macro or something…
Ethnic heritage does not enter it at all, nor ever has: it’s about* cultural *heritage.