IĀ was thinking about it earlier and, yes, latine cultures are unique, diverse and all that. Heck, I live in Brazil, and I can guarantee you, each state has itās own culture, customs, traditions, folklore and all that. We canāt even agree as a nation whatās the word for cookie!
So like, of course you canāt expect every country to have the same culture and dishes and music and all that, when not even a single country have that.Ā
But, by following other latines, and talking to people from the neighbor countries over my life, I learned that there are a few things that can be considered Universal Latine Experiences. Among them
šŗ The thing with rice and beans. Like, no country will ever have them the same way, of course. But itāsā¦ Overall, so present. Some will lean more to the rice, some to the beans, but itās there, wherever you go
šŗ Seeing posts from gringos on your dash complaining about winter where itās summer where you live, and itās so bad, your flip flops actually started melting when you went out to buy something cold to drink
(alternatively, seeing posts from gringos on your dash complaining about summer and giving out tips on how to control the heat when you are freezing on your couch and wrapped in three blankets)
šŗ Ā The overall feeling of companionship? Like, I wonāt like, I know itās not perfect. There is a huge problem with xenophobia (I would say Brazil is the worst on this matter, but then again, itās easier for me to see it here since I live here), and there is some bloody history between some countries. But the companionship is still there, you know?? We call each other hermanos, we receive each other in out country with open arms, we share our cultureā¦ I donāt know, there is some beauty to it. Or maybe this is all in my head because Iām feeling specially gushy today
šŗ Going to your grandmotherās house almost every sunday for lunch. Greeting your uncles and aunties, and asking blessings from your grandparents (even when you arenāt catholic anymore, but at this point, it is more a sign of respect and affection rather then religion) before going to play with your cousins in the backyard, while your parents play cards with their siblings or help your grandmother with the kitchen.Ā
When you notice it, itās already midnight, and they are still playing cards. Come on, pai, we need to go home, I have class tomorrow. Just one more round, flor. But your said that three rounds ago! Ā
šŗ Having your natives being wiped out to near extinction my foreigner invasors, if not complete, and then having your fauna and flora destroyed, being forcefully brought to a distant land as slaves, and then when you finally say enough for both the invasors and slavery and call your land as yours, usa comes and fund a dictatorship in your country to which your people is still trying to recover fromĀ
šŗ Ā Little statues of saints and the Virgem Maria and portraits of Jesus and crosses and candles all over your elderās house. Old houses with old paint on the walls, an old radio playing music in the kitchen, a road of battered down bricks and dirt, and your great grandmother is there, smoking a cigarillo de paja on the steps that lead to her house, keeping an eye on you as you play with your cousins and the neighbor kids you met that day, but it already feels like an eternity
šŗ El Chavo Del Ocho
šŗ Ā Reclaiming your own culture after years of cultural imperialism saying that itās not a good culture. Falling in love again with something that you were coerced to fall out of love with as you grew up. Learning again how to love the local legends, when you were thought that they were no good, and that the ones from europe and usa are betters. Learning again how to love your traditional music, dances, cultureĀ when you were thought that those were no good, that the ones from europe and usa are better. Learning your history in dept, seeing how complex and rich it is, after years hearing that itās boring, not as interesting as those from usa and europe. Justā¦ Falling in love with your roots again, and getting excited every time you see something from your country making success out there, and then also getting excited when something from you neighbors make success out there and yes! We deserve this! We deserve to have our history told and shared and appreciated too!
When will gringos understand that having a latine character is pointless if you’re never going to adress their culture and heritage. Pointing at any brown character and saying “they’re latine” without expanding on it isn’t latine rep because latine is not a race, it’s a cultural identity. Implying latinidad is determined by your ethnicity erases the identities of any latine who doesn’t look like what gringos think we are. This is why gringos think white latines are european, and afro latines or asian latines don’t exist at all. They also think brown latines are all native/mestize when latin america had a lot of immigration from middle eastern countries. Muslim and jewish latines exist, too, yet we only see catholic latines. I know this because i live in Latin America, but someone whose entire knowledge of LatAm comes from the media will never know this.
If i see a latine character, my first question is where are they from. What’s their heritage. If the writer/showrunner/whatever can’t answer a question as simple as that, I’m not interested, because it’s clear they see latin america as just a big amalgam of every country below mexico.
Friendly reminder to use Latine as opposed to Latinx as a gender neutral term, as the term Latinx was created by white folk without taking input from actual hispanic people and the ‘x’ sound is very difficult to pronounce for most native spanish speakers <3
i donāt use this website to talk about what happens in my country (nicaragua) but right now everything is upside down, Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo (president and vicepresident) made some huge changes to our taxes because they used money from our social security and we couldnāt handle any more bs so we began this revolution pacifically, but now college students are getting killed by the police, the government is threatening many people just to get them to shut everyone up who is against them, they burned and destroyed many universities, almost burned a building while people were inside, hurt many elders and kids, censored many channels on national tv to manipulate information, iām just-
WE ARE NOT EVEN BEING VIOLENT WE ARE JUST PROTESTING PACIFICALLY FOR OUR RIGHTS, PROTESTING BECAUSE WEāRE TIRED OF HAVING A GOVERNMENT THAT JUST TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THEIR POWER, THEY TOOK EVERYTHING FROM US, WE CANāT TAKE ANY MORE INJUSTICES, WE WANT THEM TO LEAVE
WE ARE GETTING KILLED AND WE ARE SCARED BUT WE WANT TO BE HEARD, WE NEED THE WHOLE WORLD TO SCREAM WITH US
