Are Brazilians Latinos? What their identity struggle tells us about race in AmericaPosted in Anthropology, Articles, Brazil, Caribbean/Latin America, Census/Demographics, Communications/Media Studies, Latino Studies, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2016-12-21 19:03Z by Steven |
Are Brazilians Latinos? What their identity struggle tells us about race in America
The Conversation
2016-12-20
Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Professor of English and Comparative Literature
Columbia University, New York, New York
Bikini waxes, keratin hair blowouts and all-you-can-eat steakhouses.
In the United States, all three are closely associated with the word “Brazilian.” Yet, although none of these things are linked to Latino identity, one of the questions that journalists frequently ask me is, “Are Brazilians Latinos?” Surprisingly, many Brazilian-Americans also ask me the same question. As one of my students put it, “Because ‘Brazilian’ is not an option in any census, job or college form, you get older and wonder, where do I fit in?”
The confusion is warranted.
It illuminates how U.S. public discourse and policy classifies 57 million people from very different ethnic, racial and national backgrounds into the categories of “Latino” and “Hispanic.” That Brazilians do not quite fit the box enables us to probe the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” and their implications. This is important at a time when Latinos are reaching 18 percent of the U.S. population…
Read the entire article here.