Soy Latina

Celebrating Authentic Latinas (how ever they may come)

Posts tagged latino

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Your Culture Sucks!

Everyone loves the Beatles. Young peeps hang posters, buy LPs, and download digital versions of the albums from greatest rock band that ever existed. Everyone loves the Beatles, except for me.

When I confessed this to my roommate (No, B I am not batshitcrazy for The Beatles) he was completely taken aback. (How can you exist in modern society without worshipping the musical grounds upon the which the holy Beatles have tread? Why would you choose to do that, don’t you know ANYTHING?) Remember, everyone loves The Beatles.

How could I not, right? I’m a person and part of that everyone.

Well, I grew up listening to 80’s r&b, R&B classics, 90’s hip hop, Salsa, Merenge, Disco, Freestyle, Old School Motown, Neo-Soul, Classic Soul and the obligatory top 40 hits. No Beatles. They just weren’t culturally relevant to me and it felt fake to pick it up in high school and college in order to fit in, so I didn’t. Loving the Beatles is cultural, but I don’t subscribe to that culture.

To this he replied: “Well then your culture is wrong! Your culture sucks!” And although he was joking it was still painful to hear. Wait, so my culture doesn’t count because I don’t listen to and love with every fiber of my being a single band? THAT makes me and my life experience invalid?

Um. No. FALSE. I understand that they were great. I understand the cultural importance, the musical importance, I recognize their legacy, but I do NOT have to like them. Nor does my dislike make me any less credible or vaild. Furthermore, statements like these are small every day versions of cultural imperialism. Your culture is not greater than mine. The Beatles aren’t objectively better than the entire reportoire of Motown or the history of great Salsa music. My culture is not wrong, cultural arrogance is.

That being said, I know many Latinos that love the Beatles and Salsa.

Filed under culture Beatles music latina latino latin@ bi-culture

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New report finds 6 percent of Latinos reject calling themselves Hispanic, Latino or Spanish

“Scholars and politicians question whether and to what extent Latinos are assimilating. Some Latinos are not identifying as Latino and disappearing into the population,” Agius Vallejo said. “People with Latin American ancestry who do not identify as Hispanic may be a harbinger of future patterns of assimilation but because these people are left out we might be underestimating the extent to which Latinos are assimilating into America’s core social structures.”



—-This is intereseting in light of a recent conversation my sister had with a client. A woman who was born and raised in a Latin American country told my sister that she had no right to call herself Latina because she (my sister) was born in the U.S.. Not to say that this woman was wrong, but I don’t believe she was right. Latina identification has changed. It is no longer restricted along the lines of place of birth. The lines of demarcation for Latinidad are subtle; they begin with personal identification and certainly do not end in birthright.  Again, just my two cents. 

Filed under latina latino identitypolitics research American