HispanicHispanic Culture Culture

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““Hispanic” Hispanic” Basics: Basics: Term “Hispanic” was created

by the U.S. government to bring together a large and varied population.

The word “Hispanic” is actually a cultural or ethnic term. There is no single Hispanic nationality. Hispanics come from many races and origins. Hispanic classification draws from over 20 nations.

““Hispanic” Basics:Hispanic” Basics:

U.S. Census Bureau classifies Hispanics as Americans who trace their ancestry to: Mexico, Puetro Rico, Cuba, Spain, Dominican Republic, Spanish-speaking countries in Central America.

Excludes people from countries where Spanish is not the primary language spoken—such as Brazil and Portugal.

Puerto Ricans: they are a part of a U.S. territory and having various rights compared to other Hispanics who live in the U.S.

What’s Important? What’s Important?

Three Important Parts of Hispanic Culture:

1.Family

2.Religion

3.Music/Dance

All three above are very important to the Hispanic people.

The most important of all three, however, is family (la familia).

The Four Main The Four Main Groups: Groups:

1. Hispanic: used by Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and other Caribbean people who consider their heritage linked to Spain.

2. Latino: used by descendants of Latin America (Mexico, Central America, South America)

3. Chicano: used by the people of Mexican ancestry wishing to distinguish their heritage from those of other Latin American countries. The term Mexican-American is becoming a popular replacement.

4. Hispaño: used by the direct descendants of Spanish conquistadors and other Spanish settlers of the U.S. southwest (who did not immigrate from Latin America)

MexicanMexican Culture Culture

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Mexican Family Mexican Family ValuesValues

The family is at the center of the social structure

Extended family is as important as the nuclear family since it provides a sense of stability

Mexicans consider it their duty and responsibility to help family members.

Most Mexican families are extremely traditional, with the father as the head, the authority figure, and the decision maker.

Mothers are greatly revered, but their role may be seen as secondary to that of their husband.

Hierarchical Society: Mexicans emphasize hierarchical

relationships

People respect authority and look to those above them for guidance and decision-making

Rank is important, and those above you in rank must always be treated with respect.

It would be disrespectful to break the chain of hierarchy

““Machismo” Machismo”

Literally means “masculinity”

Mexican males generally believe that nothing must be allowed to tarnish their image as a man.

Many believe it causes forms of sexism within the Mexican culture.

Mexican Religion Traditional Mexican religions were

polytheist, meaning they worshipped many deities/gods.

When the Spaniards arrived in Mexico, however, they brought priests who converted the Mexicans to Catholicism. Mexicans, from then on, were monotheistic (believed in One God)

Other deities were not forgotten; the deities blended into Catholicism.

Many practices and rituals exist today that worship the deities from Mexico’s past.

Important Terms in Important Terms in Culture and Culture and LiteratureLiterature

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1. 1. Assimilation Assimilation To give up

one’s own ethnic ways to blend into the mainstream culture… either by choice or by force.

2. 2. Magic Realism Magic Realism (Realismo Mágico)(Realismo Mágico)

Literary technique that weaves myth-like occurrences with the everyday realism and life (very popular in Hispanic literature)

A realistic event, image, story, etc., but something about it seems to be different, weird, fantastical, or odd.

Blurs the lines between reality and fantasy.

Magic Realism Example Magic Realism Example #1#1

Magic Realism Example Magic Realism Example #2#2

Magic Realism Example Magic Realism Example #3#3

Magic Realism Example #4

Magic Realism Example #5