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Lecture 2: Lecture 2: What does a Latino/a look like?What does a Latino/a look like?

Professor Daniel Bernardi /

Professor Michelle Martinez

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In the last lecture…In the last lecture…

• What is this class about?

• Assignments

• Tour of the WebsiteDaniel Bernardi

You can pause the lecture at any point, click on one of the hyperlinks (text that is underlined) to visit a site or view a clip, and then return to the same point in the lecture when you’re ready.

Michelle Martinez

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In this lecture…In this lecture…

• Ethnic Labels

• Complexion

• Personal Essay– Deadline!

You can pause the lecture at any point, click on one of the hyperlinks (text that is underlined) to visit a site or view a clip, and then return to the same point in the lecture when you’re ready.

Latino Comedy Project

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Ethnic LabelsEthnic Labels

Lecture 2: Part 1

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Who are we talking about?Who are we talking about?

• Hispanic: In the U.S., ‘Hispanic’ – a government sanctioned term – refers to people whose ancestry is from one or more Spanish-speaking countries.

• Latino: ‘Latino,’ predominantly a U.S. grassroots term, embraces resistant politics, panethnic awareness (more than Spanish-speaking origins), and recognizes the heterogeneity of the people it identifies.

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Problem w/ “Hispanic”Problem w/ “Hispanic”

• Tends to Ignore Diversity– Race– Class– Linguistic

– Gender

• Tends to Ignore Historical Specificity– Chicanos/as vs Puerto Ricans– Native Born vs Recently Arrived

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Obler’s Big PointObler’s Big Point

“ … the term homogenizes class experiences and neglects many different linguistic racial and ethnic

groups within the different nationalities themselves, various indigenous populations, the descendants of enslaved Africans, waves of immigrant populations from every country in Europe, Asia, and the Middle

East.”

– Susanne Obler

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What’s in a name?What’s in a name?

“Like other ethnic labels currently used to identify minority groups in this country, the term Hispanic raises the question of how people are defined and

classified in this society and in turn how they identify themselves in the United States. It points to the gap

between the self-identification of people of Latin American descent and their definition through a label

created and used by others.”– Susanne Obler

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Value of “Latino”Value of “Latino”

• Grass Roots Self-Definition

• Attempt to Embrace all Latin American Nationalities (including those that do not have ties to Spain or the Language)

– Brazilians– 2nd & 3rd Generation Chicanos & Puerto Ricans– Indigenous Groups

• Gender, Class and National Origin

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Problem w/ “Latino”Problem w/ “Latino”

According to Fernando Trevino, the adoption of a new term would merely "add to the confusion"

and would ultimately hinder Hispanics' competition with blacks and other groups for

much-needed government resources.

"My point,” he notes, “is that the continual suggestion of new labels only hurts our people."

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““Latinismo”Latinismo”

• What about pan-ethnic commonalities?• What about political issues like resistance?• What about self-definition?

“ … the reality and significance of ethnicity in structuring minority groups' access to better

housing, to improved socioeconomic and educational resources, and to political power has also fostered recognition of a much-needed pan-

ethnic unity…” – Susanne Obler

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The Big PointThe Big Point

“The Latino-conscious person sees himself as a Latino/a sometimes and as Puerto Rican, Mexican

American, Cuban and the like at other times."

– Felix Padilla

Benicio Del Toro Edward James Olmos Raquel Welch

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What about race?What about race?

For Susanne Obler,

“ …race, as it is articulated with class and gender, is indeed essential to consider in understanding the

shaping of ethnicity, as well as the varied meanings and social values that Latinos/as and

non-Latinos/as alike have attributed both to being ‘Hispanic’ in different historical periods and, more

recently, to the ethnic label Hispanic.”

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Specific Case of Specific Case of Chicanos and Puerto RicansChicanos and Puerto Ricans

“Highlighting the significance of recognizing the historical presence of Puerto Ricans and Chicanos in

U.S. society, the authors of one report explain, ‘Hispanic resistance to assimilation is fueled by a

consciousness of the wrongs of recent history... Other migrants have never had to swallow the memory of territorial loss of their homeland to the United States

to become committed United States citizens.’" – Susanne Obler

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ComplexionComplexion

Lecture 2: Part 2

Richard Rodriguez

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Who is Richard Rodriguez?Who is Richard Rodriguez?

• A prominent writer, an associate editor with Pacific News Service in San Francisco, a contributing editor of Harper's and the Los Angeles Times, and a regular essayist on the Jim Lehrer News Hour.

– Read Essays by Clicking Here

• Intellectual and Journalist– Ph.D, Renaissance Literature, UC Berkeley– M.A., Columbia University – Read Detailed Bio by Clicking Here

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Rodriguez ComplexionRodriguez Complexion• Personal Narrative

– Childhood– College– Intellectual

• Emphasis on evolving perception

“Like some other Mexican families, my family suggests Mexico's confused colonial past.

Gathered around a table, we appear to be from separate continents.”

– Richard Rodriguez

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Your ComplexionYour Complexion

• Your Personal Narrative is Due Soon– What does Latino/a or Hispanic mean to you?– How has that meaning changed over time?– What impact has media played in that process?

• You May Elect to Address Skin Color– What is the relationship between skin color and

your personal sense of Latino/a or Hispanic?

• Whether you’re Hispanic, Latino or not, these terms have meant something to you.

– What, why, and how?

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Following Rodriguez’s StructureFollowing Rodriguez’s Structure

• Childhood / Parents

• Education / Peers

• Work / Laborers

“I am the only one in the family whose face is severely cut to the line of ancient Indian ancestors. My face is mournfully long, in the classical Indian manner; my profile suggests one of those beak-nosed Mayan sculptures - the eagle-like face upturned, open-mouthed, against the deserted, primitive sky.”

– Richard Rodriguez

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ChildhoodChildhood

“As a boy, I'd stay in the kitchen (never seeming to attract any notice), listening while my aunts spoke of

their pleasure at having light children. (The men, some of whom were dark skinned from years of

working outdoors, would be in another part of the house.) It was the women's spoken concern: the fear

of having a dark-skinned son or daughter.”

– Richard Rodriguez

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CollegeCollege

“At Stanford, it's true, I began to have something like a conventional sexual life. I don't think,

however, that I really believed that the women I knew found me physically appealing. I continued

to stay out of the sun. I didn't linger in mirrors. And I was the student at Stanford who

remembered to notice the Mexican American janitors and gardeners working on the campus.”

– Richard Rodriguez

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Summer WorkSummer Work

“I was not bound to this job; I could imagine its rapid conclusion. For me the sensations of exertion and fatigue could be savored. For my father or uncle,

working at comparable jobs when they were my age, such sensations were to be feared. Fatigue took a

different toll on their bodies and minds.”

– Richard Rodriguez

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Wealth & ReputationWealth & Reputation

“At the point when my parents would not consider going on vacation, I register at the

Hotel Carlyle in New York and the Plaza Athenee in Paris. I am as taken by the symbols

of leisure and wealth as they were. For my parents, however, those symbols became

taunts, reminders of all they could not achieve in one lifetime. For me those same symbols are

reassuring reminders of public success.”

– Richard Rodriguez

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Public IntellectualPublic Intellectual

“ …my complexion assumes its significance from the context of my life. My skin, in itself, means nothing. I

stress the point because I know there are people who would label me ‘disadvantaged’ because of my color. They make the same mistake I made as a boy, when I

thought a disadvantaged life was circumscribed by particular occupations.”

– Richard Rodriguez

Suggested Supplemental Reading:

Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez by Richard Rodriguez

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The Big PointThe Big Point

• Identity is Historical / Shifts & Changes

• Identity is Ideological & Psychological– Family, Church, Government, School, Media

• Identity is Visible– Signified by Skin Color and other Phenotypes– Adaptable (from sitting in the sun – or not – to

plastic surgery)

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Personal EssayPersonal Essay

Lecture 2: Part 3

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Key PointsKey Points

• Be Honest

• Think Deeply About Your Past

• Talk About Your Identity in Relation to Film and Television (and the Web)

• Revise, Revise, Revise

• Be Honest

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End of Lecture 2End of Lecture 2

Next Lecture: What are Stereotypes?What are Stereotypes?