Brazilians and Argentines: are they considered Latinos?

[SuperMillionaire]

Since today marks the 30-day period that is Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15, I figured that I should ask this question: are Brazilians and Argentines considered Latinos? The reason why I'm asking is because for Brazil's case, they speak Portuguese instead of Spanish, while in Argentina's case, the majority of the population is predominately white, as opposed to the rest of Latin America, which is predominately mestizo (mixed European and indigenous heritage), along with some African influences. Are Brazilians and Argentines considered Latinos?

[Fynn]

Latinos is a general term for inhabitants of Latin America (Mexico and everything South), and they are probably the most ethnically diverse group in the world. So you can be both "white" and "Latino" no problem. Brazillians are Latinos, but not Hispanics - those are the people who speak Spanish. So Hispanics=/=Latinxs.

[Shiny]

Some Brazilians aren't even of Latino or Hispanic descent so that wouldn't be an accurate term to describe them. Brazil is a mosh up of people of all different descents, most notably Portugese.

[theundeadhero]

I may be wrong but I think people from Brazil are considered Brazilian, not Latinos

[Pike]

Fynn pretty much hits the nail on the head. Hispanic = Spanish speaking or descended from Spanish speaking (this includes people from Spain). Brazil speaks Portuguese, therefore not Hispanic.

Argentina is Spanish speaking and was colonized by Spain; thus it's Hispanic.

That said, caveat that I'm not from any of those countries so I'd probably find people that are, and ask them.

[sharkythesharkdogg]

Fynn and Pyke have it.

[Psychotic]

Brazilians can drastically differ in their racial background from black to really white and everything else in between. You can't really apply a label of that nature to a Brazilian.

[Fynn]

I'd like to add one more thing to my statement, after discussing the topic with my wife who has a master's in Hispanic Language and Culture.

Rather than an ethnic group, "Latinx" refers to a cultural group comprised of different ethnicities, but sharing a common cultural history of being colonized by a Romance language (because those are the languages directly descending from Latin) speaking country - so Spain, Portugal and France (Italy and Romania never really had colonies). So what I said before still stands - Brazillians and Argentinians are Latinos, whether they are white, black, mestizo or other (like I said, most ethnically diverse area in the world), but Brazillians are not Hispanics. I was, however, wrong in saying that everything from Mexico going South is Latino - Latin America refers to a cultural location, rather than a geographic one, and there are places that are geographically in South America, but are not considered Latino because they don't speak a Romance language. I can't remember the name of the country, but there is one where they speak Dutch - therefore, it's not a Latino country.

[Shiny]

Brazilians can drastically differ in their racial background from black to really white and everything else in between. You can't really apply a label of that nature to a Brazilian.

Correct, there are also Asians in Brazil.

[Pheesh]

I'd like to add one more thing to my statement, after discussing the topic with my wife who has a master's in Hispanic Language and Culture.

Rather than an ethnic group, "Latinx" refers to a cultural group comprised of different ethnicities, but sharing a common cultural history of being colonized by a Romance language (because those are the languages directly descending from Latin) speaking country - so Spain, Portugal and France (Italy and Romania never really had colonies). So what I said before still stands - Brazillians and Argentinians are Latinos, whether they are white, black, mestizo or other (like I said, most ethnically diverse area in the world), but Brazillians are not Hispanics. I was, however, wrong in saying that everything from Mexico going South is Latino - Latin America refers to a cultural location, rather than a geographic one, and there are places that are geographically in South America, but are not considered Latino because they don't speak a Romance language. I can't remember the name of the country, but there is one where they speak Dutch - therefore, it's not a Latino country.

This seems very confusing. You're saying that Spain is a Latino country because they were colonized by a Romance language speaking nation, but surely they identify as Hispanic, right (I mean... it's Spain)? Does that mean anyone who is Hispanic is also Latino, but not everyone who is Latino is Hispanic?

Also, I have never heard of France referred to as a Latino culture.

EDIT: Actually, nevermind. What I'm actually confused about is what seperates Latinx from Latino. If you could clear that up it would answer my previous questions.

[escobert]

this is racist.

[Pheesh]

If I've said anything culturally insensitive it's purely out of naivety, nothing is meant with any malice or even out to pigeon-hole people into specific groups. I was simply curious about some of the explanations brought up in this thread.

[Colonel Angus]

Latinos come from countries where Spanish is the main language. Brazil, Belize, Guyana & French Guinea aren't technically part of Latin America. Latinos can be of any race, whether it's black, white or indigenous.

Wikipedia gives a slightly different definiton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latino_(demonym)

[Pheesh]

Latinos come from countries where Spanish is the main language. Brazil, Belize, Guyana & French Guinea aren't technically part of Latin America. Latinos can be of any race, whether it's black, white or indigenous.

Surely Spanish people are Hispanic though, right? Not Latino. Or or are they both?

[Fynn]

Spain is Hispanic, but not Latino. I named those countries as the source of the colonies, not as being Latino themselves.

Well, the cultural studies over here put Brazil and French Guyana as Latin America but not Hispanic America, so idk if it's just anothe case of Hispanic/Latino not being the same thing but confused often, or just different definitions by different sources

I'll still stand by my statement that Brazil and French Guyana are Latin but not Hispanic.

Look, the basic idea is that what is considered Latino in the popular opinion is not really the same. People usually think Latino=mestizo (mix of white and indigenous) and Spanish-speaking, when that is entirely untrue becaus, again, Latinos are incredibly diverse ethnically and speak many different languages. So you can't really say Brazil or Argentina aren't Latino because there's white people or black people there - the culture is still Latin American. You guys do realize blue-eyed Cameron Diaz is Latina, right? So was Honey Lemon from Bog Hero Six, for that matter.

Wikipedia is fine, but I also recommend the TVTropes article on the matter, it's pretty insightful both in defining the term and explaining why it's different in media: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph.../LatinoIsBrown