I've filled out applications and forms and the question that sticks out is the one about "Race". I know from an anthropology course, that race isn't biological and it's a social construct and everything. I'm Hispanic but I find it a little odd that Hispanic isn't a race but just a separate area a bit. I mean there is an Asian, White, Black, Indian/Native American, Hawian, Eskimo boxes sometimes I see. I usually check the Hispanic box at times. I did work a government job briefly last someone. I didn't see a "Hispanic box" and I was clueless what to check as my "race." I checked "White." Why? It's hard to say really. Technically, Hispanics are considered "White" anthropologically technically. And we are somewhat of an in-between Black/White. I somewhat see myself as "White"(culturally). I speak with some Anglo tone for the most part with some Spanish accent somewhat. I somewhat let go of my Spanish accent and leaned more English since High School. So I've somewhat assimilated/whitening myself for the most part. Maybe that's why I have the whole preference/attraction towards White guys as a bi curious guy. But the thing about race, it's hard to label the Hispanic category as a race in it's self. But I was curious how do you all agree or disagree in regards to Hispanic as a race or ethnicity.
Well, I suppose Hispanic technically means "having an affiliation to the culture of Latin America." Anthropologically, Hispanics (mestizos) would be of mixed Caucasian and Amerindian ancestry (which is defendant of Asian by way of the Bering Strait). People will have different combinations of the two races. But Hispanics are distinct from Asians by (tens of) thousands of years. "Properly" choosing would probably choosing "Native American" and "White," but in the US (by federal and state definitions ) "Native American" implies affiliation with a "federally recognized tribe." Because of that, I usually choose "of hispanic origin" and choose the race as "white." I also do that because, throughout hundreds of years of family records, "white" has been the only thing I've found listed in our birth certificates and census records dating to the mid-1800s (haven't gone further than that). Race isn't listed anymore on birth certificates but my dad's in the 50s listed him as "white," whereas mine wasn't as detailed. Heck, his stated how many children my grandma had, parents' occupation, marital status, stillbirths mom had, everything haha. Imagine being a single mom back then!
Hmm, I don't know so much about that. But on a tangent, I'm annoyed myself when I'm supposed to fill in "race" somewhere. As far as I'm concerned, my race is human, and my skin happens to be white/pink/light brown ish. I heard in a lecture once, that even though we categorize people into different groups, "races", according to skin color (and some other features), genetically speaking, the greatest difference is not skin color, but foot size. So yeah. That's my two cents.
The racial categories used in white countries isn't really suitable for identifying oneself anthropologically. You could say it shows how racist or introverted white countries are, but I think it might also be a hangover from the racism pumped out by European countries during colonialism. White European Middle Eastern (Jew, Turk, Arab, Persian, Pakistani) Indian (North Indian, South Indian) East Asian (North-East Asian, South-East Asian, Malay, Inuit, Native American) Aboriginal Mixed (Includes Hispanic etc) I'm not sure whether "hispanic" should be a new category because it's so recent in human history.
