Latinos in the United States

Abstract

As the largest and youngest minority group in the United States, the 60 million Latinos living in the U.S. represent the second-largest concentration of Hispanic people in the entire world, after Mexico. Needless to say, the population of Latinos in the U.S. is causing a shift, not only changing the demographic landscape of the country, but also impacting national culture, politics, and spoken language. While Latinos comprise a diverse minority group--with various religious beliefs, political ideologies, and social values--commentators on both sides of the political divide have lumped Latino Americans into a homogenous group that is often misunderstood. Latinos in the United States: What Everyone Need to Know® provides a comprehensive, multifaceted exploration of Latino American history and culture and the forces shaping this minority group in the U.S. From exploring the origins of the term "latino" and examining what constitutes Latin America, to tracing topical issues like DREAMers, the mass incarceration of Latino males, and the controversial relationship between Latin America and the United States, Ilan Stavans seeks to understand the complexities and unique position of Latino Americans. Throughout he breaks down the various subgroups within the Latino minority (Mexican-Americans, Dominican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans on the mainland, and so on), and the degree to which these groups constitute--or don’t--a homogenous community, their history, and where their future challenges lay. He sees Latino culture as undergoing dramatic changes as a result of acculturation--changes that are fostering a new "mestizo" identity that is part Hispanic and part American. However, Latinos living in the United States are also impacting American culture. As Ilan Stavans argues, no other minority group will have a more decisive impact on the future of the United States.

“Raced” Organizations and the Academic Success of Underrepresented Minority Faculty Members in Sociology

“…Latina/o organizations such as the Latino Caucus were founded about the same time, following a similar pattern and purpose as organizations for black scholars. Both types of organizations grew out of the civil rights movement (Stavans 2018) and worked together to start organizations such as the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP). Although historically white institutions no longer legally segregate URM organizations and activities, these often remain marginalized and devalued.…”

Promoting Ghanaian languages: The role of telenovela series

“…Telenovelas originated from Latin America and have attracted large viewers from across the globe, transcending age, gender, social class and community (Asiamah & Ofori-Birikorang, 2018). The word "telenovela" is derived from the Spanish word "Tele" meaning distance and "Novella" meaning story (Stavans, 2010). The stories are crafted in interesting ways to attract a wide viewing audience.…”

Influence of Educational Background, Childhood Socioeconomic Environment, and Language Use on Cognition among Spanish-Speaking Latinos Living Near the US–Mexico Border

“…In the United States, Hispanics/Latinx/Latinos/as, hereafter referred to as Latinos, comprise the largest ethnic/racial minority group (US Census Bureau 2018). Most Latinos are of Mexican heritage (63%; Noe-Bustamante, Flores, & Shah, 2019), with approximately half of the 52 million Latinos in the US living in the US borderland region with Mexico (Brown & Lopez, 2019;Krogstad, 2020;Stavans, 2018). Seventy percent of Latinos speak Spanish, with more than half also reporting speaking English "very well" (US Census American Fact Finding, 2017).…”