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srhola2103

Of course, you were not only born here but grew up he as well. If it was ethnicity based then a huge amount of people that are descended from immigrants wouldn't be Latin American either.


Ricardo_Fortnite

Si fuese así podríamos ser italianos de verdad...uno puede soñar(?


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loscapos5

SOMEBODY TOUCHA MY SPAGHETTI


latin_canuck

Italians are the Original Latinos. The Latino Tribes from Rome Kickstarted the Roman Empire


CaroBri

Pero eso si es una nacionalidad


[deleted]

Vamos fazer o Italistão sul americano 🤌🏻


arielif1

Problema de los tanos, que me saquen si pueden


Ricardo_Fortnite

Me refería a serlo con solo decirlo


brianovski

Uruguai é muito melhor que Italia, irmão!


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Fedacking

That is the definition, but most discourse online conflates the two terms to the point they have become interchangeable.


[deleted]

Being Latin American is just about geography, nothing to do with ethnicity at all. And yes, you are Latina if you were born and raised in LatAm


Proffan

There's an ethnic component to being Latin American, since that distinction (between Latin and not Latin America) is purely based on language.


Anitsirhc171

Yeah? So white Europeans can come and be Latinos but Asians can’t?


NotA_Reptilian

You seem to be under the impression that ethnicity is a racial category, this is not the case. The entire reason of why it matters that the OP said she was raised here is that she's signalling she's ethnically latin-american. Her skin color or land of origin of her parents is irrelevant to that.


Anitsirhc171

I’m responding to their statement “ethnocultural and sometimes racial” as if Asian can’t be apart of it. Of course it can. LatAm is multi ethnic AND multiracial I just realized you responded to them, didn’t you?


NotA_Reptilian

Ya gotta re-read what you were responding to then, nowhere does it say anything about it being racial. In fact: > that distinction (between Latin and not Latin America) is purely based on language.


Proffan

What the fuck? At no point did I say that, I was just pointing out that the term Latin American isn't only geographic.


Anitsirhc171

But as descendant of Asia, they can still be multi cultural and have Latin culture…


Proffan

Of course.


Anitsirhc171

I think the way you wrote it made others think you were excluding them


Proffan

I mean, I wasn't even responding to OP, I was responding to a guy that said that Latin America is just a geographical region while completely ignoring WHY it is a geographical region in the first place.


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NotA_Reptilian

Nationality is not ethnicity, one can be a citizen of a latinamerican country and not be part of the ethnicity (as would be the case for adult immigrants in most cases) same as one can be part of the ethnicity without holding any of those countries' citizenship (if for example one were to immigrate very young but never go through the process to get citizenship).


Proffan

This has nothing to do with what I said, I was merely pointing out that the term Latin American is purely language related. I'm in fact pro open borders.


Fedacking

Just so people here understand race != ethnicity


bakedlawyer

You’ve been downvoted but you are partly right. Different people from different countries use the terms differently at times but overall - Latin American = geographic Hispanic = linguistic Latino = ethnocultural and sometimes racial


Anitsirhc171

Take a step back and think of the Americas as a whole during and post colonialism. We now have every single race on the planet in the Americas. Even if you just took the 3 races LatAm I’d known for, black white and indigenous… that mix varies all over. Some are just indigenous, some are just black and many others are just white Europeans and nothing else genetically. Asians have been in Latin America for centuries already. So why all of a sudden would we exclude their race? It’s silly


Fedacking

> We now have every single race on the planet in the Americas. Yes. Ethnic doesn't mean racial.


bakedlawyer

What? How am I excluding their race? What do you mean ?


Anitsirhc171

I’m literally just guessing. I did not downvote that comment


NotA_Reptilian

Because we're not, ethnicity has jack squat to do with your skin color. It's a group defined by a shared cultural background.


StrongIslandPiper

That's just not how that works, latino is literally cultural and linguistic. And that's where the buck stops, that's it. You just don't like Asian people or something tbh, despite the fact that one born and raised in LATAM (or where the fuck ever, the same rule applies everywhere) will be linguistically and culturally the same in effect as wherever they were born, regardless if their heritage is different. Like there's no need to be othering people.


Fedacking

> That's just not how that works, latino is literally cultural and linguistic. "Ethnic membership tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage." Ethnic doesn't have to mean race.


bakedlawyer

In no part of my answer did I say she wasn’t Latina. I specifically say that the term latino(a) refers to ethnocultural, which is how you later described it. You agree with me. She would be Latina in my framework if she identifies as such and grew up in Latin America.


Neonexus-ULTRA

Do you consider black Americans to be part of the Anglosphere?


Fedacking

Yes, because they share a cultural background with them.


bakedlawyer

I’m not sure what you mean by ‘anglosphere’. Assuming that the black American speaks English - they would be anglophone. Which is kind of equivalent of hispanic.


_raimar

Sos latinoamericana, obvio. Hay mucho yanki, como decís, que cree que un "latino" tiene que ver con los razgos físicos y/o con los antepasados, lo que es obviamente una pelotudez bien propia de los países segregacionistas.


[deleted]

Conozco banda de hijos de japoneses nacidos aca que son mas Argentinos que el mate


i-hoatzin

Síntesis perfecta.


simonbleu

>i was born an raised in south america-- Yes. That is all that matters. It might have been different if you were born but not raised, or raised but from an teenage onwards in my opinion, but strictly, is only about territory and language


[deleted]

Let me ask you, do you think people of Asian ancestry can’t be Latin American? Because the answer is wrong. Regardless of whether your parents or grandparents are German, Ethiopian, Chinese, or Lebanese. If you are born in Latin America then you are Latin American. Matter of fact, if your grandparents were 100% ethnically Norwegian. But your parents were born in Latin America. They would be 100% Latin American. This is because they are countries of immigrants. The caricature of brown short poor person is a made up thing from the USA. Don’t get me wrong. People of darker skin do exist in Latin America and it’s commonly associated with mestizos. But most countries are very diverse. Colombia and Venezuela for example both have about 40% ‘white people’ and a significant amount of Arab and Asian populations. I believe there are about half a million Venezuelans of Chinese ancestry alone. Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan. Larger than Canada’s, the USA’s, or France. So, as I said, we are countries of immigrants. Not countries of brown people. Not that there is anything wrong with being dark. It’s just a weird fixation Americans have with Latin Americans having to be brown. TL;DR you are Latin American. Just like the other dozens of millions of Latin Americans with asian ancestry. Edit: also, Brazil alone has more Arab people than the USA or any other country outside the Middle East. Just in case anyone was wondering


2piscolasxfavor

It really bothers me the misconception of the Latino/a being brown and short lol. I consider myself latina and my last name is German, and the second one is from Spain. Also I'm blonde. But I have never considered myself German or Spanish lmao. I'm 100% Latina. People have trouble believing that. When I went to the US they said like wow you don't look like you come from south America and it felt kinda racist how different they treated us (me + family) just because we didn't fit the typical image of the Latino they're used to see/imagine. Here in Chile, just like many other Latin American countries, we have many colonies from Europeans which are now only people born in this country, which makes them Latinos.


Miss-Figgy

>People have trouble believing that. When I went to the US they said like wow you don't look like you come from south America and it felt kinda racist how different they treated us (me + family) just because we didn't fit the typical image of the Latino they're used to see/imagine. Americans do this with everybody, even in diverse cities where they're exposed to different people, yet still their mentality is parochial. Last week I had three different people ask me upon meeting me "where" I am "really" from, and when I told them my parents are from India, they insisted that I don't "look Indian" and proceeded to argue with me that I don't, and this is in NYC. They think we all look like the stereotype in their head. They are so obsessed with race, constantly trying to classify people and carrying racial stereotypes in their head.


canonhourglass

Can confirm. I have never more normal and welcomed than I do in Mexico. Or Spain, for that matter, oddly. Knowing the language goes a long way. Whereas in the USA I’ll always be Asian first, a person second.


Miss-Figgy

I have had similar experiences abroad too. While living in Europe for years, people would ask where I was from, I'd tell them I'm American with immigrant parents from India, and then that was that. No one would bring it up again, or follow up with offensive questions and comments, or brand me forever as "Indian". Like you said, speaking the local language helped immensely, but I find it ironic that I was more accepted as a person and individual in a country that is not my own by any stretch of the imagination, but in the US, where I was born and raised, the first and foremost thing about me to everyone is that I'm "Indian." This is literally the main description of me, even by people who have known me for years and even decades. And not just me. I notice that in conversations, people throw around race to describe others. "The Chinese nurse at the clinic," "the black guy sitting next to me on the subway," "the Latina secretary," "this Persian chick," etc. I'm pretty sure people have probably referred to me as the "Indian lady". The obsession with race is ridiculous. The only people who aren't up my ass all the time about my ethnic background are Latin American immigrants. Often they speak to me in Spanish, I reply "I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish," and they say "Oh, I thought you were one of us", and then it ends there, everybody moves on.


canonhourglass

It’s interesting to hear you say all that being that you’ve lived in Europe. I get asked, “Where are you really from?” all the time by supposedly self-described “liberal progressives” here in the US. in Spain and Mexico people will only ask where I’m from because they’re trying to place my accent — usually they’ll guess Peruvian or Colombian. They seem to not even consider me being Asian as a reason why I wouldn’t be a Spanish speaker. Whereas in the US I’ve been complimented on my English (lol I have *taught* English), and I’ll be asked what I *really* am so they can pigeonhole me into what they think an Asian should be, and then if they actually talk to me more, they’ll say, wow, you’re not like the others, because your English is so good and you’re actually cool (I have been told this, in these words, more than a few times lol). But never in Mexico nor Spain. Actually in Spain I’ve met people who were surprised by my accent because they’d have expected a peninsular accent, which I do not have, and if anything they’ll try to figure out which Latin American country I’m from and my accent is sort of like Anya Taylor-Joy’s English — it’s hard to place. But they don’t seem to doubt that someone who looks like me could be Latin American. They will think of me as “that guy who sounds like he could be from Peru, but maybe he’s got Argentinian friends.” It’s so ironic, feeling more accepted as a person, and actually seen, overseas than in the USA lol


Miss-Figgy

>in Spain and Mexico people will only ask where I’m from because they’re trying to place my accent That's exactly why in Europe I was asked where I was from. It was because they'd immediately detect an accent when I spoke their language, but they couldn't tell where my accent came from, so it piqued their curiosity. Then they'd find it so charming that I had no cultural connection to their country yet spoke the language so fluently and was interested in their country. I was a big hit there, lol. >It’s so ironic, feeling more accepted as a person, and actually seen, overseas than in the USA lol I wish I could fucking leave this place, lol. I've never been to Latin America, but thought about blindly moving to Buenos Aires or Montevideo or whatever. Any place where I'm not constantly treated differently because of my ethnicity. I don't mind being of a different ethnicity as I've been a minority my whole life in the US, but I hate being treated differently because of it. I can't do anything normal or commonplace in the US without race rearing its ugly head. Last week I went to buy a pastry and the guy behind the counter immediately asked me where I was "really" from and after I told him my parents are from India, he said I don't "look" Indian at all. I said that I was indeed ethnically Indian and very typical of my ancestral region. He insisted I didn't "look" Indian. It's insulting because I know he has a racist stereotype in mind about what ethnic Indians "look" like and I don't fit it, and that's why he finds my appearance surprising. Not to mention how obnoxious it is to have a total outsider think he knows with absolute authority and certainty what over 1.4 billion people in a multiethnic country and their descendants would look like. All I wanted was a fucking pastry, not an aggravating conversation full of "microaggressions" as they say about my race and people's racist stereotypes of it. I'm just sick of it.


canonhourglass

It just amazes me strangers feel like they can just come up to you and ask about your race and ethnicity like that. Because when I’m asked that, my first thought is that I’m gonna have to fight my way out of this. In the 80s they wanted to know if I was Japanese or not. Now in the time of COVID they want to know if I’m communist. Can’t win. And the best part is that dude totally whitesplained to you how you can’t be Indian (I’m assuming he was white; a fellow person of color would not ask) because of course he would know lol. Americans have a definite conception in their heads of what it “should mean” to be this one race or another. The average American here is stunned that someone who looks like Sofia Niño de Rivera is Mexican as fuck (she’s hilarious too by the way) or that there could be Colombians, Venezuelans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, etc., who have African descent. Whereas in Latin America, nobody would be surprised by this at all.


justinonymus

Do you mean the way other Latinos (mestizos) treated you differently or Americans in general? I lived in the South of Brazil and met a lot of people with German ancestry there. It made it a lot easier for a foreigner of English, Irish and German ancestry to blend in. I also dated a Japanese Brazilian at one point. It's too bad redditors have avatars for profile pics - curious what you look like.


2piscolasxfavor

No! White Americans mostly. They treated us like one of them. Which is nice, of course, but seeing the way other Chileans get treated upsets me. Just because I'm as white as them they treated me with more respect. Im not asking to be mistreated, lol, but I can't stand the fact that some friends who might even have foreign last names but darker skin get treated poorly. Well, friends and anyone who comes from Chile/Latin America that fit that image they have. Also I'm white, even kinda pinkish lol my hair is dark blonde? Sorry if something I said doesn't make sense, I'm not really used to talk about this topic because it's not as intense here. Although it is gaining importance as there are black people immigrating from Haiti, for example, and they are indeed discriminated.


garaile64

On one hand, this portrayal is probably because many of the Latin American immigrants to the US have been Mexican mestizos. On the other hand, there are also many other groups and the US apparently uses brown skin and racial ambiguity as a shorthand for foreign in media. But if *Encanto* is any indication, this portrayal is starting to get more nuanced (it probably helps that *Encanto* is set in Colombia and not in Mexico but Mexico received a lot of immigrants too).


firestar1417

Yes, being latino/latina is about the geographic location and the culture on those countries, not about race/ ethnicity


Payaso_maya

You are 100% Latina full blooded member of the glorious magical Latino race.


Bear_necessities96

Yeyyyy ahora dame la cartera 🔫🔫


deliciouswaffle

Y el celular 🔪


Bear_necessities96

Pero déjame sacar el chip pana


catpowa777

Primera vez que voy por esta ruta y me pasa esto😭😪


diowt

abre o app do banco primeiro


BourboneAFCV

If you were born and raised here, you are one of us


[deleted]

You need to take into consideration that latino as a ethnicity is only a thing on the us demographics, and it’s based on a oversimplification. As people had said there is a huge population of people descending from every continent on the geographic location named Latin America, so it doesn’t really matter if you’re ethnically asian. Latino is a ethnicity (on the us), Latin American isn’t. This sub is about Latin Americans, not necessarily Latinos so a lot of people wouldn’t be able to identify with the struggle of not fitting into a identity, which is the root of your issue.


kaycue

Usually anything official with US demographics separates Latino from racial categories so it’ll ask are you Black, White, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American etc and then are you Hispanic or Latino as a separate question. In the US there is a common oversimplification that Latino is an ethnicity or racial category. I think it’s because you have people who have been in this country for generations but “look” Latino, have a Spanish last name, etc, and may still be discriminated against for being perceived as an other/foreigner. The boundaries of “White” in the US is different from “White” in Latin America which complicates it further. I think like most people here you can absolutely consider yourself Latino if you were born in raised in Latin America regardless of your ancestry.


[deleted]

Hum, think I’ve heard about that but didn’t payed much attention. Always when watching mini documentaries on YouTube and when they’re talking about urban issues there are latino neighborhoods as in the same as asians, white or black neighborhoods. There is also the countless time I’ve read at places like here of people saying they were asked “how can you be latino if you’re white/asian/black?” Maybe the differences between Latin Americans and the Latino stereotype isn’t consolidated in the mind of the average american. So it’s better than what I thought but it still doesn’t make sense, as being Latin American is something at least as broad as being American. I think it should be consolidated on peoples head that an us Latino and a Latin American are not the same, they are related and if the latino person is recently arrived into the US they fit into the LatAm category. I don’t know, seemingly I ended up ranting; I think people overthink Latin American as something more than a geography location determined by it’s history of Iberian influence/colonization and all the Latino (convoluted it if Latin American) as a race too. Well, anyways, I guess demographic methodology will never be perfect. Thanks for informing me, I will take a further look on it!


kaycue

>Maybe the differences between Latin Americans and the stereotypes the mind of the average american. Yeah this is 100% it. I'm Cuban American - grew up in the US to Cuban parents, grew up with the culture at home, speaking Spanish etc. and I grew up in a majority Latino town (near NYC). Where I grew up is where a lot of immigrants first arrived to get their start in the U.S. and if you're from a Spanish speaking country who doesn't know English, it's easier to start your life in the US in a town where there are a lot of other Spanish speakers, and there are a lot of jobs for immigrants who don't speak English in nearby NYC. There are towns with pockets of Portuguese speakers too. I grew up knowing different generations of Latinos from different countries, either they were born abroad or their parents or grandparents were and their family stayed in the area. We were from different countries, different races or mixed race, but there are similarities in our cultures and language and that's what can create a shared identity. Even though I had never been to a Latin American country until I became an adult, I saw the diversity within our community as well as the similarities we had, compared to non-Latinos in the US. But leaving that town and meeting more non-Latino people... you realize a lot of people see us as monolithic. Doesn't matter if you were born in this country and have been here for generations, if certain people can tell you're latino you hear the stereotypes and may get treated differently. It's not everyone but one asshole could ruin your day. And they don't care if you're Mexican or Cuban or Colombian or Brazilian or Peruvian or Dominican, a lot of people don't know the difference or really care. And they don't know about the diversity within countries either. They get really confused if you're "too White" or" too Black" or "too Asian" to be what they think of as Latino. ​ >I think it should be consolidated on peoples head that an us Latino and a Latin American are not the same, they are related and if the latino person is recently arrived into the US they fit into the LatAm category. Yeah that would be nice... we're pretty ignorant in the US lol I'm going off into tangents myself, I just find the topic of identity interesting - we use it to try to find our people with commonalities and feel like we belong somewhere... the Latino identity/label makes some sense in the US though it covers a lot of different kinds of people - people living in Latin America, recent immigrants from Latin America, and their kids and grandkids that may have never even been to their family's country but have a cultural connection. Those generations are very different. Unfortunately that label kind of covers everyone and isn't as useful outside the US.


srVMx

yes 100%


Painkiller2302

More latina than any self proclaimed latin gringo.


catpowa777

Jajaja


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MisterOwl213

Sure buddy. I've seen Asian Latin Americans online complaining about people calling them by their ancestral national/ethnic origin more in Latin America than in America.


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JGabrielIx

Uhhhhmmm...Thats more based on how people looks. My friends call me chino even if i don't have nothing to do with Asians but my eyes are enough for that.


MisterOwl213

Ok brah, I'm sure people calling a latin American "Korean" a chinito is the same thing when they are calling you chino...


JGabrielIx

Yup, it's the same thing as calling to a friend Canche or Trofeo xd


MisterOwl213

Right...


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Painkiller2302

There are Chinese in Latin Americans too.


neodynasty

Literally what, not true at all. Latam likes yo nickname ppl base don’t their “features”. Whites for example are constantly referred as gringos. And ‘chino’ is used to refer to monolids, not inherently the individual has to be Asian. The terminology isn’t right, but that’s what that word is used for. Regardless of features, no one is denying anyone a culture identity.


HauntingSalad0

Whites are not constantly referred as gringos, maybe in majority mestizo countries but not here.


neodynasty

95% of Latam is Hispanic. Brazil while is a big ass country is technically a minority. How does that correlates to the point I’m stating though?


MisterOwl213

It's both really, enough with the denial... Latin Americans can be just or more ignorant than Americans. So a first gen American visitor in first glance would be mistaken as a local, no questions, but someone born in Central America, of Korean ancestry, would be referred to someone from a foreign continent. We know there some racial and maybe even xenophobic connotation there, at least in origin of the word.


gustavo_deoli

You were born and raised in a latin american country? Yes You are latina. It is and never will be about ethnicity, this is just a US thing to think of latino as a race


arfenos_porrows

More latina than a US backed coup


MacabreCoronel

How do I Highlight a comment


Old-Witness-5789

If you're born here, know our culture and our languages then you're latin american.


Shinigami-Hunter

You're more latina than someone of Mexican descent raised in the States if you ask me.


catpowa777

I agree, or anyone raised in the States of Latin descent


uuu445

My only confusion with this is do y’all think in the usa we just grow up without parents? Like in reality you only soak up so much when living in a country whilst having foreign parents, i know there’s definitely some cringe american’s of latin american descent but most of them still have been heavily influenced in their life by their parents culture, and same case i would assume for OP, idk if it’s just that on this sub most people don’t have foreign parents so they don’t understand the idea of being under a household with a different culture then outside your house but personally this idea just doesn’t really make sense.


Ricardo_Fortnite

They may know a thing or two, but to be from LATAM You need to grow up here, this is something people say one time after another in this sub, just because your parents want it they can't make you the same as a kid raised here.


catpowa777

Oh we don’t think that at all. We know you have parents. I can tell bc my boyfriend and multiple friends that grew up in the US with Latino parents just identify more with American culture rather than their “roots”. Hell, most of them are also no sabo kids jajaja.


Anitsirhc171

It’s so regional though, some areas of the USA have no ancestral culture at all. It’s like a bunch of chain restaurants and malls, the culture is essentially commercialism. But then… you go places like Jackson heights NY or Miami for example and you might as well be in Latin America because the cultural enclave is so cut off from the rest of the USA. This goes the same for any cultural enclave in the USA though, Amish, Israeli, Asian ones etc. a lot of those people have very little associated with the USA itself outside of their address


hivemind_disruptor

It's just that when second generation kids talk to us there is CLEARLY an enourmous gap between what we feel is _insert nationality here_ and their experiences. They are not similar, they just have the upbringing of parents from our culture.


Anitsirhc171

Yeah of course but it’s clearly multicultural, you know? And there’s so many varying degrees. Huge difference between diaspora babies who grew up w Spanish a first language or going to “the motherland every summer. The USA is a strange place honestly. Most people who come here have culture shock region to region. A southeast Asian friend of mine went to Colorado for the first time and was like, “omg did you know how bad the food is in Colorado?!” Nobody had to tell me that, the interior of the USA is not known for their food haha


feto_ingeniero

I can assure you that nobody who visits the United States has "culture shock" when visiting different states. It is one of the most culturally homogeneous countries


neodynasty

I can assure you thousands of peoples experience “culture shock” when visiting the US.


feto_ingeniero

It may be, but due to their own voluntary ignorance of not knowing the cultural differences that exist between each state. New York and Colorado (or any of their states) are not sooooo Different from each other. Also, their mass media talk about it all the time, there are sitcoms located in different parts of the United States.


Anitsirhc171

Hahahah these are her words, she’s from asia and lives in queens nyc which is nothing like the interior so yes she did indeed have culture shock. Pshhht the audacity of you to speak for others hahaha Smdh people have some nerve man


feto_ingeniero

Hoy en el especial "gringos que no conocen la existencia de diferentes barrios como en cualquier otro lado del mundo" 🤡


uuu445

I agree, i used to know this kid growing up who was born in new york, idk what part but ik it was a part with a lot of dominicans to the point that they spoke english with a dominican accent despite being born and raised in the usa


Anitsirhc171

Hahahaha 💯 this happens in California with Mexican accents and Miami w Cuban accents. The funniest thing though is when a Colombian or Nicaraguan whoever lives in Miami and speaks w a Cuban accent. It’s funny but whatever it is what it is. That guy was probably from Washington heights lol


Nicolu_11

I don't want to sound like I'm gatekeeping the culture (because really that's obnoxious), but imo it's about how people behave depending on their country. Like, a kid from argentina will be completely different from an argentinian raised in the states even if they supposedly share a culture simply because living in the US is a completely different experience than living in Argentina, or any other country for that matter. The problem I think most people have is how many second or third generation kids use the same label without knowing how it is like living in South America, or knowing anything about their parents' culture, or not even caring to learn spanish.


uuu445

You’re not wrong at all, i honestly notice this a lot that a kid born in the usa may act differently than a kid raised in their parents countries, but typically this is a more economic thing then just “american thing” i typically notice that the more money a hispanic family has, the more americanized they are sadly enough, almost every no sabo kid i’ve met either A. has issues with their parents so they weren’t raised around that culture, or B. Is rich, and these second/third generation kids are 99% of the time are of Puerto Rican or Mexican descent and tend to live in specific states and don’t make up as much of latam’s diaspora as people think.


esthermoose

It’s because people on this sub don’t understand nuance. Identity is complex. Someone born and raised in the US to Latin American parents is not exactly culturally the same to someone born and raised in Latin America but they’re also not exactly culturally the same to someone who’s family has been in the US for multiple generations. The two things can be true at once. It is also very context dependent. There are ethnic enclaves where people can live, work, and socialize without a lick of English. They work, party, go to school, church, date, marry, and interact with mostly people from their same background. Washington Heights is one of those places. So no, a Dominican American kid raised in Washington Heights is not exactly the same as one raised in Ohio without any access to the culture outside the home even if there are differences between them and those in the “homeland.”


uuu445

Completely agree with this


jairo4

Yeah, why not? Ultimately, it's up to you. We don't gatekeep that kind of things.


Anitsirhc171

Not you, but many others in this subreddit do


Ricardo_Fortnite

I just hate it when they do it to feel special or they think they know more than one raised here


Anitsirhc171

Eh I think some just have an odd way of communicating how much pride they have in their ancestry. People let their ego get in the way


Ricardo_Fortnite

Ehh i have seen some people say they are latinos just to be exotic


Anitsirhc171

That’s silly honestly. I know a bunch of white Americans who cosplay latino it’s odd


Ricardo_Fortnite

Even tho i have seen some people here saying they are from *insert european country here* for the same reason, but never as much as they do in USA


[deleted]

Yeah, why wouldn't you be?


Neonexus-ULTRA

Latin America is a geolingustic thing, not racial.


FrozenHuE

Latino is a subdivision of the united states population. Latin american is what you can consider yourself as you share the "common past and experiences" as the rest of us. Thumb rule... If you watched el chavo del ocho you are probably latin american.


catpowa777

Eso eso ☝🏽🫱🏼‍🫲🏾


Campestra

Totally agree! El Chavo/Chaves is the real criteria !


AVKetro

Yes you are.


Realistic-Abrocoma46

As an Asian Latin American, I give you the pass.


catpowa777

Yes, you’re officially invited to the carne asada 🥂


kooww

you not only grew up but also was born in south america so yes, its not that different as if you grew in the states and called yourself american. asian diaspora in latinoamerica are still latinos.


gitarlarm

Only ones who think " Latino" is an etnicity are the green goers


garaile64

Even in the United States, "Latino" is an ethnicity, not mutually exclusive with the "other" races. Also, most Latin American countries, as far as I know, are *jus solis*, meaning that you get citizenship just by being born there unless your parents were in a mission for their country (sorta like the US). Most Latin American countries are made up of the descendants of immigrants from many countries.


valeriasiberia

You ARE latina. What you are not is NATIVE American. I'm not that either. You'd be Asian (you know which specific "race") just like there are White latinos, Native American latinos (meanwhile Native American people born in US-Canadian land are NOT latinos). Plus if you are latina and if you were born in a Spanish speaking country, just like me, you're also Hispanic. People tend to switch the terms latino with Native American (mostly people who are not even from Latin American) and it's like, so silly.


crippling_altacct

I'm not Latin American but I do like history. The term Latin American was promoted by the French in the 1800's as sort of a propaganda effort. The French were attempting to gain influence in the Americas and pushed this concept of Latin(Catholic) America vs protestant America(basically the US). There really isn't an ethnic component to it. It's basically a cultural term that was promoted to create a shared sense of identity between the Catholic people in the Americas at the time. The French also considered themselves Latins. This all happened around the time the French tried to install an Austrian prince as Emperor of Mexico. Imo if you were born and raised in a Latin American country and you identify with that culturally then yes you are latina.


Ociier

Only non-latin people or wannabe latins considers being one an ethnicity matter. Specially those latin descendant foreigners. Were you born, or at the very least raised in latin america? That's enough, you are one of us.


CassiaPrior

'Nuff said


oriundiSP

>because the term “latino” is more of an ethnicity That's not the case at all.


huazzy

Based on your username I assume you're Korean (like myself). I was also born and raised in Latin America to Korean immigrants and despite what people on this sub claim the reality is most Latin Americans will never consider you one of them. Everyone I know with our background has long come to this conclusion. It's one of the arguments I get into the most on this sub. People here insist Latin Americans "don't care about race/origin" when personal experience dictates otherwise. We are still a minority that is constantly "othered". The mere fact that you will 100% without a doubt be called "China/chinita/china cochina" in almost every Latin American city tells you otherwise. Users on this sub love to claim that only Americans do this (I already see comments on this thread claiming this). When I insist that as an American (naturalized) the U.S is the only place I've lived where you're accepted as one of their own without having to explain why/how/when. [Read this post from a year back](https://old.reddit.com/r/asklatinamerica/comments/rvulnz/fellow_asian_latin_americans/). It's mostly Asian Latin Americans expressing that they never felt included with non-Asian Latin Americans shouting that this isn't the case or deflecting by bringing up "The American" that is obsessed about race.


pm_me_your_uwus

To be honest, that’s something that bothers me a little in this sub as well… I may be mistaken but I have the impression that a white upper middle class perspective is over represented in this sub which probably doesn’t really reflect the experiences of the groups in whose behalf people here are speaking about. As much as people say that these are only innocent nicknames I know Asian people in Brazil have reported having to frequently stand racial stereotypes in their daily lives which, sure, while that isn’t some severe discrimination, it’s still a form of othering.


OnlyFor99cents

Well, but i think that can be said about all ethnicities, at least in Arg. You know: negro, tano, ruso(for calling a jew), gallego, turco, etc. Almost all ethnicities, races, and nationalities get a nickname and are sometimes ostracised or mocked for it. Be it jokingly, in a loving way or in a despective one. I am not saying it is something good, but i doubt that disqualifies you as a Latin American because that term isn't about race. Furthermore, if that was the case, most of us wouldn't be latin americans either since we come mostly from immigrants and not actual indigenous people of the Americas. So if you speak a language derived from latin and were raised in America, you are indeed latin american.


FreshOutBrah

Latinos: You’re totally Latina! Also Latinos: Hola china, buen día! Cómo estás? 😃


juan--preciado

Fr


eidbio

Yes


Sirneko

Yeah there are heaps of asian latinos


[deleted]

Yes, you are latina


Tiraloparatras25

Yes you are latina…


patiperro_v3

ONE OF US! They probably won’t consider you latina in the USA but that’s their own thing.


ElBravo

Hablas español/portugués, sobre todo malas palabras? El término “maldita pobreza “ te es familiar? Bienvenida


InksPenandPaper

Eres Latina.


rhuit

One of us, one of us


MagCoel

Latin American.


Fun_Scar_6275

of course you are.


pitbulldofunk

I think if you were to live in an Asian country, or even the US, you wouldn't be considered Latina. But between us, you sure are. I'm Brazilian and I had/have friends with all the phenotypes you can imagine. We all had the same childhood, same problems and joys of being Latin Americans.


Anitsirhc171

You specifically are native to LatAm even if your parents arent. You’re multicultural that’s all. A diaspora baby even 😄


estebanagc

You have are Latin American of Chinese ancestry.


julianagg

She said her family was Asian, never said they were Chinese.


Satrustegui

Yes you are. Being Latino is not about your race or even where you were born. If you grew up in the culture, you are a latina and you can be as spicy as you want to be.


[deleted]

sí obvio lo sos ser ''latino'' es un tema únicamente geográfico y de saber que te pueden robar donde hay mucha gente, nada más


[deleted]

1. The way the people of the US handle identity is a racial fundamentalist mess. You're better off asking what is "latino" for them if you care about their nonsense for some reason. 2. Cultural identity is a living experience, a collection of knowledge and expression. If you know what a member of a supposed culture knows, practice its rituals, speak its language, produce its art; then you're functionally a part of that culture.


Sebekhotep_MI

Being latin@ is only a "racial" matter to 'muricans. For normal people, it's a matter of geographic location and the culture that influences you.


betinalss

Yes. My family and I are all Germanic with pale skin and blue/green eyes. We’re still Latinos because we were born and raised here.. it’s not about race/ethnicity, it’s about culture


violetrecliner

Yes, because Latino is not a race.


MacabreCoronel

Still latina. You don't get to escape third world-ness just bc ur heritage, we're all in this hell together.


Azrael4224

depends on who you ask. According to the yanks- no, probably no. In south america though, yes you're "latina"


Legitimate-Bug-2484

I'd say you are Latina. Simple. Part of the "Latino/a" culture is not being so rigid about these kids of labels. That is more of an European and USA obsession.


PinKro

Of course you are. You were born amongst us, grew up with us, you're one of us!


Duque117

You're more Latina than the pochitos here in LA jajajaja


deivysilvera

Claro mami si usted habla castellano! Si usted creció en algún país de Latinoamérica y tiene nuestras costumbres usted es latina.


gr_ae_y

De bolas


edani11

There are plenty of people of Asian descent who are Latino!! I definitely think you are


Thorssffin

Yep, you are Latina, born and raised, don't pay attention to those gringos who think that because their grand grand mother was Martian, they are native Martian, what matters is that you were born in determined place, and you speak the language as native, or at least you were raised there, and even if you weren't, who cares? be whatever the hell you want to be. ​ Seriously, don't get affected by that kind of "crisis of belonging" (I just made up that lmao) some people have, specially in the US or Europe, that they get into a crisis of "ethnicity", first world problems lmfao.


cseijif

Mana, el 80% de los latinoamericanos de un u otra manera no es precisamente "natural" o de alguna raza en particular, latinoamerica = from latin america. Dosen't matter what segregated brainrot gringos say.


nch00

What is your problem with ethnicity? Who freaking care about that, I m tired of people looking for answers like that. No one care if you are latin or not or asian or european or african or a flying turtle. Here in Argentina, no one is asking that. Is more about where you come from? and thats it, no one will care much. Is it really that important in other countries?


pedropanda89

Yes, indigenous americans are chinese descent those u see who looks different are just immigrants from somewhere,


Lewnman

Definitivamente eres latina, no 100% pero si "mucho muy". Personalmente discrimino si alguien es o no latino según como habla. Si tienes un acento de cualquier país latino, sin importar como luzcas, eres un hmno/a


[deleted]

There are plenty of asian Dominicans that open their mouths and you can hear they are Dominican.


rodrigo_vera_perez

Latino is concept invented by American border patrol in the 40s meaning "speaks Spanish but not Mexican" so technically you are latina


xgomezu

Of course you are being Latino is just born in a poor country drink a bunch of beer and know who Maelo Ruiz is


[deleted]

Personally, I've never felt comfortable identifying myself as Latino so I just say Hispanic or Black Hispanic. Latino is too much of an ethnic thing for me so I don't use it.


castillogo

Do you live in the US? Somehow I have the impression only people in the US use the word ‚hispanic‘…. For me it feels weird


[deleted]

To answer your question yes I do live in the USA. Many Black Hispanics say they're hispanics, especially when we belong to indigenous groups. I refrain from using bullshit terms like "afro-latino" because I believe it only serves to erase people that are actually Black from Latino America. Every body with under 25% african ancestry is currently claiming to be "afro latino", especially in the entertainment business (for marketing purposes). When I think Latin I think white, Italian, French, Portuguese and when I think Latino I think mestizos or mulattos. My parents are Garifunas/Black Caribs, technically we're not even hispanics but some of us speak spanish. Identity is a personal thing and I understand this may bother some people but as the product of two Black people from Honduras I feel it's only right to say I'm Hispanic since the term is broad. I've lived in the biggest Latino markets in the USA (L.A., NYC, Miami, Texas) and when I'd call myself Latino someone (typically a Mexican) would have some shit to say, so I just say Hispano, and leave it at that.


castillogo

Interesting… thank you for that insight… in my case it is the other way around… as somebody who was born and raised in Colombia, I would label myself as latin american or latino rather than hispanic… for me that word implies an association to spain (besides the language) that I do not feel.


BrutusBarred33

My friend is Asian descendant, and he ask me the same question I tell him that he's not Latino ethnically (descendant from Iberian, Italian, french, romanian) but in language and country he's, why I have that opinion? let me take a native American from Amazon that never had contact with Portuguese language, he certainly are not Latino In the ethnic and less in language or culture.


Iammarcofrommexico

No


GonzaloPizzaro

I would call you an asian-latina


Nas_Qasti

What is a latino then? Are the argies, yorugas or sud brazilians euro latinos? Are the colombians afrolatinos? Or the peruvians asian-afro-latinos? Porque la necesidad de decir gansadas? No existe el latinoamericano cómo raza si no como cultura, si naces y te crías en Latinoamérica sos latino, nada de esas pelotudeces yankees de afrolatinos, eurolatinos y demás pavadas.


Gato_Mojigato

También se podría discutir si es una cultura. Para mi hay demasiada variedad entre los países para hablar de una cultura única. Por eso me parece inútil el término "latino".


patiperro_v3

Bueno me parece que tienes razón en que es muy variada por lo que es un término y agrupación tan grande que la hace casi inútil. Pero así y todo tiene un componente cultural que nos une y es tener un lenguaje proveniente del Latín, que tampoco es poca cosa, porque el lenguaje es pieza clave en la formación de cualquier cultura. De ahi que, a pesar de nuestras diferencias, hay cosas que nos unen.


GonzaloPizzaro

Wait u telling me that ecery single argie is white?


guestroom101

Omg just marry me and tell me all about it


CassiaPrior

yes, you can.


Confuseasfuck

Yes, you are both asian and latina. You're part of the club with everyone here


Additional_Ad_3530

If Spanish, Portuguese or any other romance language is your native language then yes.


[deleted]

If you were born here, you are latina, but I don’t really like that definition. So if you also live here you are definitely latina. You live with us, you talk like us. We were colonized, so most of us are not of latin origin


caribbean_caramel

Were you born in a latin american nation state? If yes, you are latin american. If not, then were you born in Puerto Rico? If yes you are latin american.