The Best Way to Honor Hispanic Heritage Month? Learn what ‘Hispanic’ Means

Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States runs from September 15 to October 15 each year. The half-month-to-half-month structure might seem peculiar, but the reason for this is that these dates overlap with the independence celebrations of a number of Hispanic countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Chile).

As humans – and as marketers – it’s on us to know both our neighbors and our customers. To create room for them, to treat them with respect, and to accommodate them to the best of our abilities. Hispanic Heritage Month is a perfect time to show appreciation for our fellow humans and business partners alike.

It’s not uncommon, during celebratory cultural months, to engage in the culture being honored. When it comes to Hispanic Heritage Month, the question becomes: which culture, specifically?

21

That’s the number of countries that fall under the ‘Hispanic’ umbrella, including Spain itself. If we exclude Spain, the remaining 20 countries are spread across roughly 6,500 miles. That’s roughly 41% of the world’s circumference. How, then, does one appropriately and authentically honor such a huge, diverse group of people? What are the singular topics – aside from language – that tie these cultures and communities together?

Let’s stress test this logic elsewhere. If a person started in London and went directly east, they would pass through France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Mongolia, and China—vastly different cultures. The sheer geographic size creates more diversity than similarities.

But perhaps that’s cheating a little. After all, the countries listed above don’t share a common tongue. If you were trying to connect two English-speaking cultures across the same distance, you’d be grouping people from Vancouver, Canada, and people from Auckland, New Zealand. Besides language, what could they possibly have in common?

The fact is: language is just one thread in the magnificent tapestry that is human culture. It omits food and music and dance and flora and fauna and customs and style of dress. It flattens wealth inequality and treats each of these 21 countries as if they’re part of a grand monoculture. None of which is true. It’s too big a term for too diverse a cohort.

The Relationship between Hispanic and Latino

It’s clear that ‘Hispanic’ doesn’t quite rise to the challenge of addressing this cohort in total. This was the exact reason why the term Latino was popularized in the U.S. in the 1980s.

The key difference between the terms is that Hispanic specifically refers to people of Spanish descent. Latino is geography-based, and refers to people from Latin America, which includes the territories of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America that were descended from countries that speak Romance languages (Spain, Portugal, and France).

To clarify, that means French-speaking Haiti is part of Latin America, but its western neighbor, Jamaica, is not. Jamaica’s northern neighbor Cuba, is part of Latin America, but their eastern neighbor, the Turks and Caicos, is not. All of these countries are buttressed on either side by the United States, by the way.

This creates a clear-as-mud definition whereby only parts of the Caribbean, Central America, and South America are included. Belize is left out. As is Suriname, a Dutch-speaking country populated by people of Indian descent.

Incidentally, this also doesn’t touch on indigenous communities (like the 4.4 million+ strong Quechua peoples of Peru or the African-and-Arawak-descended Garifuna peoples of Honduras, Belize, and more). Our current choice of terminology is non-inclusive at best.

All of this shows the complexity of creating a taxonomy of descendants of Spanish-speaking countries. And that doesn’t include the U.S.-centric debates.

Finding Room for Everyone

Labeling this cohort as “Latino” also creates problems stateside. Spanish is a gendered language, and “Latino” refers specifically to males. Spanish-speaking feminists fought hard to make “Latina” more prevalent and widespread, which helped create more space. But then, that creates a binary, which ostracizes non-binary people.

The most recent attempt to codify ~660 million people under a single term was “Latinx.” At first blush, this appeared like something everyone could agree on.

This was a very, very incorrect assumption. According to Pew Research, the vast majority of Spanish speakers think it shouldn’t be used. The perception is that it was a term made for Spanish speakers and not by Spanish speakers, with the key proof point being that we all pronounced it like “latinex.” If it were truly of Spanish origin, it would be “latin equis.”

Then What is the Proper Terminology?

It’s long overdue for us to get a stronger understanding of the specifics of Spanish-speaking countries. Without thinking too hard, it’s easy to conjure up shorthand descriptors of different regions in the U.S. For instance, LA folks are laid-back surfers who enjoy avocados. New Yorkers are preoccupied straphangers who enjoy pizza. Texans wear boots. Chicagoans wear thick coats.

As marketers, the time will come very soon when we won’t just be saying “Hispanic” or “Latino/a/x/e.” We will need to know that the Mexican-American consumer from Southern California has one set of characteristics, and the Cuban-American consumer from Miami has another. Our targeting must get more specific. Our messaging must be more precise and, therefore, accommodating.

As we’ve said on this blog before, the future of the United States is Spanish-speakers who watch anime. The time to start being better neighbors and marketers to this collection of cohorts was yesterday.

The second-best time?

Ahora mismo.