Question

How would you describe Latino diversity?

Answer 1

• Long before English immigrants came to North America, the Spanish had explored, settled, and claimed lands such as California and Florida. The United States later annexed lands claimed by Mexico that are present-day Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and California.
• Individuals of Latin American origin comprise over 14% of the population of the United States, and this ethnic group is the fastest growing in Utah and surrounding states. Much attention has been focused on new waves of immigrants, but professionals need to be aware of the wide variety of needs and experiences across different Latino subpopulations. Although about 80% of Latinos in Utah originated from Mexico, many other nationalities are represented here. Many individuals raised in the U.S. speak only English and have assimilated to European American culture.
• The term Hispanic is used in the United States to describe all people of Latino and Spanish descent. It is a broad ethnic classification of people originating from over 20 countries in Central and South America.
  
• The family is the nucleus of Hispanic life. Involving the family as much as possible in the education process will not only help the student, but also increase the likelihood of future educational success among all family members. Many Hispanic students are bilingual.If they are not proficient in their native language or the language spoken at home, they may have difficulty with English language skills or reading comprehension in school.
•   Hispanics tend to have closer personal space and value physical contact. Appearance and group memberships are very important. Latinos will work hard for the goals of a group and will work hard for the needs of the community.
• The terms Latino and Latina are gender-identified. So a male-identifying individual with direct or ancestral origins from Latin America may identify as Latino, while a female-identifying individual would be Latina.
• Hispanic, Latin American, Latino/a, and Latinx are not considered racial terms or descriptors of race; these terms are used only to describe ethnic and cultural origins. For example, these umbrella terms encompass indigenous Latinas, Afro-Hispanics, Asian Latin Americans, and white Latinxs.
• The presence of African heritage in Latin American culture is visible in the arts and music of many regions. For instance, reggaetón was invented by black Panamanians in the 1980s, inspired by black Jamaican dancehall music by way of Puerto Rico. However, Afro-Latin-American and Afro-Latinx identity has not always been visible or respected in mainstream Latin American and US culture. Only in 2015, for example, did Mexico begin to count individuals of African descent in their own separate category, as black or Afro-Mexican, for their general census.
• To sum up, the heritage of Latin America blends indigenous, European, African, and Asian peoples, languages, and cultural traditions. There is no one Latin America, or Latino or Latin American culture,rather, it is all these things.Many modern and contemporary artists have addressed issues of Latin American identity in their work.