Acacia Reeder

Dr. Esteban Azcona

LAS 319

4/2/2023

Short Essay 2

Examining Culture

When we declare an identity, we declare that we are the “same as” others that declare that

same identity. We share certain attributes, beliefs, or likes and dislikes. Being able to accurately

define our identities allows us to categorize ourselves and others and in turn, build relationships.

However, sometimes, these categories of identities get misused and therefore are misunderstood.

For example, when we qualify shapes, we know that all squares are rectangles because they have

four sides and four right angles. But we cannot categorize a rectangle as a square because all of

its sides are not equal like a square’s. This idea can be applied to identities. Some identities fit

alongside others but not the other way around. This idea is discussed in Gaspar de Alba’s The

Chicana-Latina Dyad.

Gaspar de Alba writes about the iconic Tejano singer, Selena, Jennifer Lopez, a

“nuyorican from the Bronx”, and the difference between identity and the performance of identity

(Gaspar de Alba, 107). Jennifer portrayed Selena in concerts and movies after the Chicana

singer’s tragic death. And she did a damn good job of it but that does not mean that Jennifer

Lopez is Chicana. She was simply performing a Chicana role. She and Selena are both part of the

latinidad identity, an identity that they share but they also have other identities that differentiate

them. One of these women is Chicana, the other is Nuyorican. Two identities that are completely

separate and not interchangeable terms. So getting back to my analogy of a square and rectangle.
Both of these things are 2-D shapes. That is an identity that they share. And a square is a

rectangle just as a Chicana or a Nuyoricana is a Latina but not every Latina is a Chicana or a

Nuyoricana. This is where some issues with identity labels lie. It is important to differentiate

identity terms and to understand and correctly use them, otherwise, misunderstandings can arise.

For example, the definition of Chicana is an American woman of Mexican descent. All

American women of Mexican descent are Latinas but all Latinas living in America are not of

Mexican descent. On top of that Chicanas are American and as Gaspar de Alba points out, it is

important to differentiate between Latina and Chicana because using the term Latina so broadly,

“places all of us in the immigrant category; we all become border crossers into the United States,

and thus we erase the history of the conquered Mexican north, the history of Mexican nativity in

this landbase” (Gaspar de Alba, 111). Therefore the terms Latina and Chicana are not

interchangeable. To wrongfully use the term Chicana to describe a Latina who is not of Mexican

descent robs her of that crucial aspect of her identity and puts the wrong labels on her. People

will automatically assume she is of Mexican descent when she is not. She is stripped of her

history with the use of one word.

Another misinterpretation of identities makes itself known when discussing the history of

Los Angeles. Carey McWilliams, Fantasy Heritage, discusses the fact that Los Angeles prides

itself on its rich “Spanish” history when in reality, “of the original settlers of Our City the Queen

of the Angels, their wives included, two were Spaniards; one mestizo; two were Negroes; eight

were mulattoes; and nine were Indians” (McWilliams, 36). The term Spanish means of Spanish

descent. To call someone Spanish means that they have origins in Spain. Much like the identities

of Latina and Chicana, Spanish and Mexican are not interchangeable terms but frequently they

are used interchangeably. McWilliams writes, “By a definition provided by the Californios
themselves, one who achieves success in the borderlands is ‘Spanish’; one who doesn’t is

‘Mexican”. (McWilliams 37). Not only is the identity of “Spanish” being used incorrectly to

label something or someone that is actually Mexican in descent but it is also being used to

debase the Mexican identity. Instead of being an ethnic identity, it is now a way to categorize

success or wealth. As if to say that if you identify yourself or are identified as Mexican, you are

worth less than someone who is identified or identifies as Spanish. Also, many of the aspects of

either culture are used interchangeably. For example, Los Angeles, a city with a proud “Spanish”

history, celebrates a Mexican holiday annually. Cinco de Mayo is a day celebrating Mexico’s

victory over France in the Franco-Mexican war. During this celebration, an actor who is

“Californio three hundred and sixty-four days of the year, becomes a “Mexicano” on Cinco de

Mayo” (McWilliams, 38). Despite degrading Mexicans and their culture every other day of the

year, on this day the Californio is happy to celebrate Mexican culture and identify with it when it

is convenient for him. This is detrimental to the identity of Mexican.

Another interesting aspect of the importance of identity differentiation is the use of the

“white” identity. There is a distinction made between Non-Hispanic white people that are of

European descent and Hispanic white people that are of Latin or Spanish descent. According to

Foley in Becoming Hispanic, the Hispanic white identity works to “acknowledge one’s ethnic

heritage without surrendering one’s “whiteness” (Foley, 53). This identity serves to differentiate

Hispanic people, which includes people of Latin and Spanish descent, from those of European

descent. It works to differentiate Mexican- Americans from non-white individuals. This identity

was created in an era when in order to be taken seriously and awarded rights, you had to identify

and be identified as white. Being white was a means of survival. Categorizing oneself as

Hispanic white worked in some ways but did not free Chicanos from persecution. Yes, there
were not any Jim Crow laws for Mexicans but this does not mean that Mexicans were not

discriminated against. Mexican-Americans were legally categorized as white but still endured

racist acts. Identifying as white as a Chicano was necessary in order to survive in a highly

discriminatory society.

Lastly, another interesting aspect of identity differentiation is the types of rituals one

participates in during life. Sex and gender identities are similar to racial or ethnic identity in that

everyone is assigned one at birth but different from ethnic identity, one’s gender identity does not

always match up with the sex they are assigned at birth. In a lot of cultures, certain life cycle

events are gendered. In Mexican culture, women have quinceañeras to celebrate their fifteenth

birthday and it “offers the young woman a space to perform her emergence into adulthood and to

contest and shape the expectations that the symbolic act implies” (Cantu, 18). The quinceañeras

can look very different in Chicana culture than they do in Mexican culture. Once again, whether

you identify as Chicana or Mexican differentiates you from others but there are still levels of

sameness like the life rituals that are performed.

Identities are extremely powerful because they allow us to define ourselves and what

makes us, uniquely us. But if they are used incorrectly, it is far too easy to slap a label on

someone and call it a day without giving it much thought. This is when identities can become a

means to debase a group of people. Also, incorrect labeling can lead to misunderstandings about

a specific group of people. It is important to pay attention to the identity terms we use to describe

ourselves and others because they are defining features of who we are.