Hispanic/Latinx Vocabulary

Vocabulary

• Hispanic: In the US, this term refers to people descended from Spain or Spanish-speaking countries.
• Panethnicity: This involves distinct ethnic groups uniting for social, economic, or cultural benefits, increasing their influence on shared issues.
• Latinx: A gender-neutral panethnic term for individuals of Latin American descent in the US.
• Third World Liberation Front (TWLF): A multiracial coalition of Black, Latin American, Indigenous, and Asian-American student groups that advocated for Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State & UC Berkeley.
• La Reconquista: The reconquest of formerly Spanish (Christian) territories from Muslim/Moorish populations.
• Mayorazgo: A Spanish system of land ownership where property is legally indivisible and passed down through generations via the eldest son.
• Joint Stock Company: A company that pools resources from investors to fund ventures and share profits, such as the Virginia Company of London, the Dutch East India Company, and the British East India Company.
• Filibuster: A group of newcomers or mercenaries that seize a town or territory by force to declare their own republic, often as part of US territorial expansion through “land grabs” in states like FL, TX, and CA.
• Manifest Destiny: The belief in US expansion westward and the conquest of Latin American territories.
• Speculator: An investor who buys assets, such as land, for short durations to make profits from price fluctuations.
• Gunboat diplomacy: Foreign policy that uses the threat, or actual use, of military force.
• Banana republics: Small, politically unstable nations dependent on exporting a single resource (like fruit or minerals), controlled by foreign multinational corporations.
• Free Trade: Unrestricted exchange of goods and services across borders without tariffs.
• Neoliberalism: The shift of control of economic factors from the public to the private sector.
• Maquiladoras: Export processing zones, typically tariff/tax-free, operating beyond local environmental and labor laws, often found along the US/Mexico border.
• Pink Tide Movement: A shift in Latin American governments away from neoliberal economic policies and US economic exploitation, marked by Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
• School of the Americas (SOA): A US Department of Defense military training school, originally in the Panama Canal Zone, later moved to GA in the 1980s.
• Panama Canal: A project initiated after Teddy Roosevelt used US military diplomacy to coerce Colombia into allowing its construction, which eventually led to Panama's independence.
• NAFTA: The North American Free Trade Agreement between Mexico, the US, and Canada.

Timeline (1490-1800)

• 1492: The end of La Reconquista in Spain
• 1492: Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean
• 1513: The Spanish arrive in present-day Florida.
• 1607: The English arrive in present-day Jamestown, Virginia.
• 1776: US declares Independence
• 1791: The beginning of the Haitian Revolution.

Timeline (1800-1900)

• 1803: The Louisiana Purchase, under President Jefferson.
• 1819: The Adams-Onís Treaty, through which the US gained Florida.
• 1822: President Monroe acknowledges Mexico's independence.
• 1823: The Monroe Doctrine is created, limiting European colonization in the Americas.
• 1829: Slavery is abolished in Mexico.
• 1845: The annexation of Texas.
• 1848: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo marks the end of the Mexican-American War, resulting in the annexation of CA, NM, and NV.
• 1898: The end of the Spanish-American War, leading to US acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Timeline (1900-Today)

• 1914: The Panama Canal opens.
• 1917: Puerto Ricans are granted US citizenship.
• 1968: Strikes for Ethnic Studies occur at San Francisco State & UC Berkeley.
• 1994: NAFTA goes into effect.
• 1996: The Summer Olympics are held in Atlanta, GA.
• 1998: The Pink Tide Movement.
• 2006: Major immigration protests take place across the US.
• 2018: The Consciousness is Power Movement (call for Latinx Studies) at Emory.
• 2025: First Intro to Latinx Studies class taught at Emory

Ethnic Studies Principles

• Work to end racism by studying systems of oppression at the institutional, interpersonal, and internal level.
• Build strong relationships with families and community organizations.
• Use curriculum that responds to students' cultural, historical, and contemporary experiences.
• Use methods that respond to community needs and problems.
• Reflect on teacher identity and making explicit how identity impacts power relations in the classroom and community.

Critiques of the term Latinx

• Seen as an example of English linguistic colonialism/domination.
• The x removes a key aspect of the Spanish language
• Argued to be grammatically incorrect.
• Considered hard to pronounce.
• Seen as an elitist term not commonly used.
• Erases Black and/or Indigenous experiences.
• Obscures gender specificity.