Thanks to one of Thomas Tseng’s most recent posts, at The Melting Blog, I was made aware of this article by John-Thor Dahlburg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer.
Yet another example of how even well established Hispanic enclaves in the U.S. are morphing through the constant and diverse inflow of persons from every corner of Latin America, as well as other highly-populated Latino communities in America. Peruvians, Ecuadorians, Guatemalans, Venezuelans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans… the list goes on and on; each adding their own hue to the “Latino cultural collage” emerging in Florida.
This is definitely a preview of things to come in the future for the Hispanic/Latino community… We’ll begin to blend amongst ourselves creating a completely unique culture, along with it’s food, slang, music, etc.
I have seen it first hand: 1st generation Latinos going back to their home countries after a couple of years of living in the United States; the obvious difference is their accent: it definitely differs from the one they had prior leaving, it has a little bit of Mexican/Cuban/Puerto Rican, depending on where they moved to, along with a mixture of couple other Latin American accents intertwined with English. Then comes the words they use… i.e. they begin to refer to a “picop” (pickup truck) as “troca”… They don’t feel it, but they have “drank the Kool-Aid” sort of speak, of the U.S. Hispanic/Latino Community.
It was interesting on a personal level, but it was not until I had spent some time living in the U.S., that I realized that never before had I been so proud of my Latin American heritage, as now that I had been away from what I’d called home all my life. Before there were Mexicans, Argentineans, Cubans and Peruvians; now I only see Latinos/Hispanics; even given the differences among us, there is still a vast common ground that holds us together.
Here’s just a taste of what you will find while reading this story:
To meet the needs of a changing readership, the county public libraries have bought cookbooks from Venezuela, Mexico, Nicaragua and other Latin countries…One of the sharpest differences between Florida and California is the extraordinary variety of the Latino population, says Dario Moreno, professor of political science at Florida International University. In California, an overwhelming 77% of Latinos are Mexican or Mexican American. In Florida, people of Cuban birth or descent constitute the largest group, but these days, only about a third of the whole.
"Just because you speak Spanish, no one assumes you're Cuban anymore," Moreno said.
Some of Florida's New Latins are poor, illiterate or in the United States illegally. Many, though, are entrepreneurs or professionals, in contrast with most of the Latino immigration to California.
… many Puerto Ricans have been relocating from the New York area for the same reasons other Americans come to Florida: sunshine, economic opportunity, a nice place to retire.
Slowly, though, a trans-Latino identity is taking root. Nowadays, even a venerable temple of Cuban gastronomy like Miami's Versailles restaurant offers non-Cuban specialties on its menu, including churrasco, a thick Argentine cut of steak. Strolling Mexican-style mariachi bands are common, but the musicians are often Colombians. More and more, there are households where the spouses hail from different Spanish-speaking countries or backgrounds.
Read the whole story at Los Angeles Times (free registration required)
Comments