Hispanic Ethnicity

Ethnicity is a term which may be confused with ‘race', but which refers to a shared cultural identity that has a range of distinctive behavioral and possibly linguistic features, passed on through socialization from one generation to another. There are never clear boundaries, cultural or geographic, that mark the limits of ethnic groups, even though many regard ethnicity as though it were naturally determined. Ethnic differences have been a source of political unrest, often associated with religious or clan differences. In this paper I will discuss Hispanic ethnicity. Hispanic, as used in the United States, is one of several terms used to categorize native and naturalized U.S. citizens, permanent residents and temporary immigrants, whose background hail either from Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America or the original settlers of the traditionally Spanish-held Southwestern United States. The term is used as a broad form of classification for this wide range of ethnicities, races, and nationalities who have historically used Spanish as their primary language.
Salient characteristics: Over the last 500 years, throughout what was the Spanish empire in the Americas, Spanish, indigenous and African cultures meshed, evolving into distinct national or regional cultures.
Spanish speakers have also called much of what is now the United States home for centuries. From the mid-1500's, when Spaniards first settled St. Augustine, Florida, and Spanish and Mexican populations first settled in the Southwest, to the enclaves of Latinos that sprung up in major U.S. cities in the 20th century, Hispanics have played a vital role in the social and economic development of the U.S.
Far from being homogeneous, U.S. Latinos are a hodge-podge of ethnicities. Political views, education, and socio-economic status vary widely. Those recently arrived may still think of themselves as mejicano, cubano, argentino, or colombiano. Second-generation Hispanics are already on