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

Lecture 2: What does a Latino/a look like? Professor Daniel Bernardi / Professor Michelle Martinez

In the last lecture… • What is this class about? • Assignments • Tour of the Website Daniel Bernardi Michelle Martinez 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.

In this lecture… • Ethnic Labels • Complexion • Personal Essay • Deadline! Latino Comedy Project 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.

Ethnic Labels Lecture 2: Part 1

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.

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

Obler’s Big Point “ … the term homogenizesclass 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

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

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

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."

“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

The 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

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.”

Specific Case of Chicanos 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

Complexion Lecture 2: Part 2 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 AngelesTimes, 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

Rodriguez 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

Your 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?

Following Rodriguez’s Structure “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 Childhood / Parents Education / Peers Work / Laborers

Childhood “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

College “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

Summer 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

Wealth & 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

Public 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 Rodriguezby Richard Rodriguez

The 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)

Personal Essay Lecture 2: Part 3

Key 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

End of Lecture 2 Next Lecture: What are Stereotypes?

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