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Transnational

Pan-ethnic, broad

Hispanic, Latine, Latinx, Latin American

Regional

Broad region

Central American, Caribeña/o

National-origin

Specific country

Mexican/Mexican American, Salvadoran, Nicaraguan, Cuban, Puerto Rican

Local

Specific place/region within a country

norteño, Tejano, Yucateco, jalisciense

DENOTATION vs. CONNOTATION- Hispanic

Of Spanish-speaking background

Ties to Spain, colonialism, Census Bureau pan-ethnic project, erasure of distinct communities

DENOTATION vs. CONNOTATION- Latino

Ancestry in Latin America

Anti-colonial solidarity, shared struggle, excludes Spain, includes Brazil/Haiti

DENOTATION vs. CONNOTATION- Latinx

Gender-neutral Latino/Latina

Queer/non-binary solidarity, linguistic imperialism, unpronounceable in Spanish

DENOTATION vs. CONNOTATION-Chicano

Mexican American (1960s)

Resistance, national sovereignty, pride, civil rights

DENOTATION vs. CONNOTATION- Boricua

Puerto Rican (from Borinquen)

Indigenous name for the island, pride, resistance

U.S. Hispanic population (2021)

62.6 million

% of hispanics in U.S. population

19%

% who prefer country-of-origin label

47%

% who use Hispanic/Latino

39%

% who say "American"

14%

% who prefer "Hispanic" over "Latino"

27%

% who prefer "Latino"

18%

% with no preference

54%

% who have heard of "Latinx"

23%

% who use "Latinx"

3%

Afro-Latinos (of U.S. adults)

2%

Afro-Latinos (of Latino adults)

12%

National-origin breakdown (2010):

• Mexicans: 63%

• Puerto Ricans: 9.2%

• Cubans: 3.5%

• Central Americans: 7.9%

• South Americans: 5.5%

• Dominicans: 2.8%

 FOUR BROAD CAUSES OF LATINE POPULATION GROWTH

MEBB" (Military, Economic, Border, Boots/Desires)

"WE ARE HERE BECAUSE YOU WERE THERE"

: U.S. military intervention, foreign policy, and economic dominance in Latin America created the conditions that displaced people who then migrated to the U.S.

Mexican community story

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848); Repatriation (1930s); Bracero Program (1942–64); 1965 INA; NAFTA (1994)

Puerto Ricans

Spanish-American War (1898); Foraker Act (1900); Jones Act (1917) — citizenship; Balzac v. Porto Rico (1922); Operation Bootstrap

Cubans

Castro's revolution (1959); First wave (1959–62); Second wave (1965–70s); Mariel boatlift (1980)

Central Americans

Civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua (1970s–80s); U.S.-backed regimes vs. leftist insurgencies

Concentric identity

Local → National → Regional → Transnational; layers of identity that fit together

Denotation

Literal definition everyone agrees on

Connotation

Buried history, meanings no longer dominant

Culture

 shared meaning, produced through language, using signs, guided by codes.

HALL'S 5 PRINCIPLES OF CULTURE AS SHARED MEANING

S	Shared meanings — culture is about interpreting the world similarly
P	Process, not things — culture is a set of practices, not objects
I	Invented (constructed) — meaning is made, not found
C	Consequences — meanings regulate conduct and have real effects
E	Everywhere — meaning is produced at many sites (the cultural circuit)

THE TWO SYSTEMS OF REPRESENTATION

System 1	System 2
Concepts (mental maps in your head)	Languages (signs: words, sounds, images)
What you think	How you say it

Mnemonic: "Concepts Come first, Language Links them."

Signifier

The form (word, image, sound)

The letters T-R-E-E

Signified

The concept in your head

"A large plant"Sign

Sign

Both together

The meaning "tree"

THE SIGN (The Formula)

Signifier + Signified = Sign
(Form) + (Concept) = (Meaning)

DENOTATION vs. CONNOTATION

Denotation	Connotation
Literal, obvious, everyone agrees	Hidden, cultural, emotional, ideological
First level	Second level (Barthes calls it myth)
"It's a pasta packet"	"It's Italianicity"

THE THREE TYPES OF CULTURE

(Folk, Pop, High)

Folk culture

Ordinary people, rural, traditional

Folk tales, corridos, quilting

Pop/Mass culture

Mass market, commercial

Hollywood, pop music, soap operas

High

Elite, "the best"

Shakespeare, classical music, philosophy

 SAUSSURE'S KEY IDEAS

A	Arbitrary — no natural link between signifier and signified
D	Difference — meaning comes from difference (red vs. green)
D	Divided — sign = signifier + signified
S	Social — language is a social system (langue), not individual (parole)

THE TYPEWRITER RIBBON (Moraga) — Chain of Signification

P	Poverty (economic — can't afford a new ribbon)
L	Lack of language (can't find words that don't betray family)
M	Monster (the word swells up and looms over her mother)
W	Women's invisible bleeding (unheroic, unrecorded death)
S	Stories (mother's stories retold, repetition, oral tradition)