Speaking Spanish in the US. Janet M. Fuller

Speaking Spanish in the US

the US, and thus they did not receive the same assistance provided to refugees from communist Cuba. Subsequent Dominican migrants have been economically diverse and have included urban professionals as well as the rural poor (Zong & Batalova, 2018).

Conclusions and Connections

The history of the annexation of Mexican lands by the US is the basis for a saying common among Mexican Americans that ‘we didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us,’ which is typically given as a rejoinder to anti-Mexican commentary or the portrayal of Mexican Americans as out of place and unwelcome. Macías (2014) points out that most of the current US once belonged to nations that had Spanish as an official language, whereas English has never been the country’s official language (see Chapter 8). In addition, Macías (2014) argues that Spanish is different from so-called immigrant languages because, despite its history as a language of colonizers, most Spanish-speakers in the US today are descendants of colonized peoples (as a result of mestizaje, linguistic subordination of Indigenous languages and language shift to Spanish). The implication is that Spanish has more in common with Indigenous languages than it might first appear, and that this should be taken into account in the treatment of its speakers.

In our examination of the annexation of formerly Spanish territories, we saw that race and racism were key factors not just in US expansionism but also in the treatment of the people living in the annexed lands. Issues of race and racial identity as well as claims about racial purity and/or superiority also played a role in struggles for political representation and statehood, and in efforts to attract tourists. While we critiqued the downplaying of the historical presence of Spanish (an issue we return to next chapter, when we discuss the portrayal of the US as a monolingual English-speaking nation), we also showed that efforts to reclaim and celebrate the Spanish colonial past are not simply a straightforward attempt to counter Anglo-dominant narratives. Instead, they are intertwined with particular social, political and racial agendas and identity claims. Because representations of history have both symbolic implications and concrete, real-world consequences, they were – and still are – hotly contested. The claims to European heritage and Spanish identity we have discussed in this chapter will also be relevant for our discussion of race and racialization in Chapter 5. In that chapter we will examine the ways in which conquest and colonization, and the encounters among Europeans, Native peoples and Africans, have shaped understandings of race and racial identity in both Latin America and the US. These issues also come to the fore in our discussion of the history of US language policy in Chapter 8.

In our discussion of the most numerous Latinx national origin groups we hope to have given some sense of the diversity both of Latinxs and Spanish-speakers and of their reasons for coming to the US, while also emphasizing that the majority of Latinxs are not in fact immigrants. The diverse national origins of Spanish-speakers will be crucial in our discussion of the linguistic characteristics of Spanish in the US (Chapter 10). By looking at the unique histories of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican and Salvadoran migration, we showed how a combination of push and pull factors have led people to leave their homes in search of a better life in the US for themselves and their children. And while each place of origin is different, we saw that a common thread running through them all is the role of US political and economic policies and military involvement. In recent years, Latin American immigration has been at the center of political debate in the US. We hope to have given readers the background they need to be thoughtful participants in such debates, as well as the motivation to stay informed and engaged.

Discussion Questions and Activities for Chapter 3

(1)In his Lines and Lineage series (https://tomasvh.com/works/lines-and-lineage), photographer Tomas Van Houtryve combines 21st century landscapes and portraits to represent the Southwest prior to its 1848 annexation by the US. View the work (and possibly also listen to his 30-minute artist talk linked from that page). What are some of the themes that connect Van Houtryve’s work, the Hispanophilia of the early 20th century, and the controversies surrounding Oñate? How do representations of the past impact our understanding of the present? To what extent is our understanding of history shaped by popular culture and/or art, and to what extent can they be used to revise or ‘correct’ inaccurate understandings?

(2)Joshua Fishman (2001) identified three types of minority languages: Indigenous, colonial and immigrant. Consider how each of these labels might apply to the case of Spanish in the US. Next, discuss whether and/or how language type should impact a minority language’s status or the rights of its speakers.

(3)Review the history and migration patterns of the largest Latinx national origin groups in the US and identify similarities and differences among them. At a minimum, you should consider: the historical timing of migration; push and pull factors; citizenship and immigration status; the ethnoracial make-up of the groups; and location within the US. In addition to the information in this chapter, you may wish to consult the demographic profiles available on the Pew Research Center’s website (http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/15/the-impact-of-slowing-immigration-foreign-born-share-falls-among-14-largest-us-hispanic-origin-groups) or Census Bureau data available online (https://data.census.gov)

(4)Read ProPublica’s reporting on the treatment of unauthorized immigrants recruited to work in chicken-processing plants in North Carolina and Ohio (https://www.propublica.org/article/case-farms-chicken-industry-immigrant-workers-and-american-labor-law) and on their home town in highlands Guatemala (https://www.propublica.org/article/photos-returning-to-guatemala-roots-of-case-farms-workers). What are some of the push and pull factors that have contributed to Guatemalan immigrants coming to the US? What role did US foreign policy play? In what ways are unauthorized immigrants especially vulnerable to unethical employers? How might language and language barriers play a role?

(5)Informally interview someone you know about their own or their family’s

(im)migration history, as well as their minority language maintenance/loss (or analyze your own). What were the individual and group factors that led them to migrate? How easy or difficult was it for them to get authorization to do so? Does the person have regular contact with people in their country of origin? If the person has maintained a minority language, what were the group factors and individual decisions that helped make that possible? If the person underwent language loss (or never learned their family’s heritage language), what were the contributing factors and how does the person feel about having lost (or never acquired) their heritage language?

Note

(1)It is also important to remember that prior to the arrival of both the English and the Spanish, there were approximately 15,000 Native people living in the Tidewater area (Hedgpeth, 2019).