Culture and Perception: Hispanic/Latino

Culture and Perception: Hispanic/Latino

Different cultural groups conform to a particular identity, which is symbolically represented in the cultures, language, values, communication pattern, art, pastimes, architecture, behaviors, societal systems, and relational roles. These symbolic representations differ considerably via a culture’s media, the United States media, and academic research or literature. Besides, channels of mass media significantly impact intercultural communications, interactions, as well as perceptions. This paper examines these lenses of cultural identity as they apply to the Hispanic culture.

Hispanic or Latino are terms denoting to Americans tracing their roots to Spanish countries. Hispanics include Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, South, and Central Americans. Latinos, on the other hand, are Spanish speaking individuals of Latin American descent. Hispanics trace their origin to a collectivistic norm where responsibility becomes shared, group activities are dominant, and individuals assume collective accountability. Kemp & Rasbridge  (2004) posit that the patriarchal and traditional structure of the Latino/Hispanic families grants the highest authority to the father or the elderly male. Total submission, however, is expected from women. The Hispanic culture considers becoming ill is a more significant apprehension than death. With the increased concern of morbidity, the Hispanics pay critical attention to behavior and lifestyle affecting health, concerns for the environment like getting exposed to polluted water or surrounding and exposure to pesticides. The culture also emphasizes the need to use health services (NAHH, 2004) effectively.

According to Taylor et a. (2012), the Hispanics are dominantly bilingual and exhibit fluency in both English and Spanish languages and considers learning English is essential. The efficacy of hard work underlines Their political and social attitudes. The Latinos hold conservative views about social concerns. Even though they encourage homosexuality, the Latino strongly advocate against aborting positing that the act should be illegal. Taylor et a. (2012) argue that Latino has more liberal views of politics and leadership and have low levels of trust and emphasize on becoming careful when it comes to dealing with people.

Presence is a significant aspect of cultural representation and a core element in the Latino identity. Mass media in the United States, are considerably different from Latino media. In U.S. media, Latinos’ images become influenced by the definition of Hispanic to suggest that all individuals speaking Spanish share a common ancestry. Such descriptions are characteristically limited by the shallow settings in which the images appear (Olivarez, 1999). Empirical literature, on the other hand, provides robust and detailed distinctions attributing to the Latino culture.  Thomas (2011) hypothesizes the distinctions between Hispanic and Latino, postulating that all American nations speaking the Latin language should be referred to as Latin American. The United States, however, does not consider the Spanish language as part of Latin America despite the historical connotations that Mexico comprised of territories far as Utah and Oregon.

In the United States, media, particularly television shows of comedies, uses humorous intent to make references of ethnicity and race less controversial. As a result, ethnic and racial stereotyping appear considerably overt in such media. Latino televisions, on the other hand, showcase the comedy genre in a manner indicating the implicit tension between the sense of ethnic otherness and the desire to assimilate the United States Latinos. The Latino identity gets articulated in the English language media, mainly when associating the connotations to solidarity and prestige, thereby giving it a low prestige. In such media, however, English becomes articulated with accomplishments, power, and money. According to Guillermo (2011), Spanish connotations are significantly lost when the English language media incorporates Latino identity. These cultural assimilations in media also endow English with high social status.

Moreover, the media uses the term Latino to unify the diverse cultures or subgroups such as Mexicans or Cubans regardless of the conflicting social discourse, political agendas, and cultural backgrounds. Even though the U.S. media gets driven by commercial interests, it uses the Spanish language to posit more unifying images and avoid representing economic and racial differences. As opposed to the traditional Spanish language television, the trending Latino in English language television portrays a linguistic dilemma in intercultural communication. For instance, the bilingual Latino in the United States may yearn for the social power underlying the use of English even though they should acknowledge ethnic pride that Spanish fluency symbolizes. The conflict revolves around what a person wants and what they should want as dictated by a particular cultural norm (Guillermo, 2011)

Correspondingly, there is a close connectedness between the media and intercultural identity. The perception that the Latin Americans and their descents are unitary groups regardless of class, race, and nationality, for instance, enables Spanish based networks to communicate and sell to national marketing teams the Hispanic market (Guillermo, 2011). The media has significantly influenced the complexity and interconnection of humanity. Notably, the media has influenced the form and context of messages and how persons from several ethnicities and cultures understand each other in the communication process. Empirical studies show that the media has created a vast continuity gap between innovations and cultural traditions. As a result, traditions or norms do not keep pace with cultural values brought about by the media, and vitally impacted communication and understanding between individuals or generations of a given culture.

Further, social media networks like YouTube, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and mobile technology enable individuals from various communities to connect and represent themselves in a particular manner (Chen, 2012). As individuals create personal connection networks in cyberspace, they develop an intercultural relationship, improve their communication competence, and even foster positive notions about certain norms. The media has enabled individuals from a different culture to communicate and the use of information to freely express themselves, thereby enhancing mutual understanding between individuals from various cultures (UNESCO, 2017). Notably, the media facilitates intercultural communication by challenging and eradicating prevailing perceptions, assumptions, or attitudes concerning certain cultures. The media, therefore, combats the prevalent cultural stereotyping in societies and erodes an individual’s ignorance, which results in mistrusts and suspicion. The media also uses and values cultural diversity as a means of enhancing understanding, thereby promotes acceptance and tolerance of cultures. However, the media has a detrimental effect on intercultural communications. Media networks and the related interaction entail revealing one’s personal information, which can jeopardize the continuous establishment of constructive intercultural relationships (Chen, 2012). In the process of facilitating one’s freedom of expression, the media can also be a barrier to understanding and tolerance. According to UNESCO (2017), tension arises when one confronts or offends another individual’s identity or culture.

Reference

Chen, Guo-Ming. (2012). The impact of new media on intercultural communication in a global context. China Media Research, vol. 8, no. 2, 2012, pp. 1-10

Guillermo Avila-Saavedra (2011) Ethnic Otherness Versus Cultural Assimilation: U.S. Latino Comedians and the Politics of Identity. Mass Communication and Society, 14:3, 271-291

Kemp, C. & Rasbridge, L. A. (2004). Mexico. In Refugee and immigrant health: A handbook for health professionals (pp. 260–270). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

National Alliance for Hispanic Health (2004). Delivering preventive health care to Hispanics: A manual for providers, p. 29–30. U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources, and Services Administration.

Olivarez, A. (1999). Studying representations of U.S. Latino culture. (Constructing).

Taylor, P., Lopez, H. M., Martínez, J., and Velasco, G. (2012). “When Labels Don’t Fit: Hispanics and Their Views of Identity.” Retrieved from <https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2012/04/04/when-labels-dont-fit-hispanics-and-their-views-of-identity/>

Thomas H. (2011). A Companion to Latin American History. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

UNESCO (2017). “The role of Media in Intercultural Dialogue.” Retrieved from <http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world-press-freedom-day/previous-celebrations/worldpressfreedomday200900/themes/the-role-of-media-in-intercultural-dialogue/>