Member-only story
Americans from elsewhere
There is a group of people in the United States with roots in Latin America who are described interchangeably as Latinx, Latino, or Hispanic. The people in this group disagree about which of these pan-ethnic terms best describes them. But most of them (73%) decide to self-describe as American or as people from their country of origin (e.g., Peruvian American), probably because most of them (69%) don’t think their pan-ethnic group shares a common culture. This pattern changes across generations — the foreign-born prefer country of origin (65%) and third generations and above like American (56%) — but those who choose a pan-ethnic term are always the minority.
The preferences of this group for self-description and description by others offer two insights to all Americans, whether with or without Latin American roots.
The first insight is that people in a group don’t think of themselves or want others to think of them firstly or mainly as members of a pan-ethnic monolith. Argentinians and Mexicans are proud of their culture and history, but their cultures and histories are markedly different. Their countries aren’t even on the same continent. And while Spain and Sweden do share a continent, most Americans would know better than to sit down at a Swedish restaurant expecting tapas. Or to visit an Ikea expecting products with Spanish names.
