Hispanicization

Panaderia La Loma in Durham, North Carolina.

Hispanicization or Hispanization^[1] is the process by which a place or a person absorbs characteristics of Hispanic society and culture. Hispanicization of a place is illustrated by, but not limited to, Mexican restaurants, tortilla factories, panaderias (bakeries), taquerias (taco restaurants); Spanish language churches, newspapers, radio stations, as well as specialty music stores, clothing stores, and nightclubs. Hispanicization of a person is illustrated by, but not limited to, speaking Spanish, making and eating Latin food, listening to Spanish language music, dressing in Santa Fe style or other Hispanic styles, and participating in Hispanic festivals and holidays.^[2]

[edit] In the United States

Hispanization is the opposite of assimilation in the United States. Assimilation is the process by which a minority culture absorbs characteristics of the dominant society and culture. In the United States Anglo culture has long been the dominant culture and, historically, U.S. Immigrants have assimilated by the third generation. For example, most third-generation Ukrainian-Americans (people whose grandparents who were born in Ukraine and whose parents were born in the United States) have lost the ability to speak Ukrainian, and no longer make Ukrainian easter eggs, cook Ukrainian food, play Ukrainian music, or know how to perform Cossack dances. Besides, second-generation Ukrainian-Americans are very likely to marry outside their ethnic group due to the lack of Ukrainian enclaves in the United States. A few immigrant groups to the U.S. have been slow to assimilate--Greeks, Chinese, and especially Hispanics.

Language retention is a common index to assimilation, and according to the 2000 United States Census^[3], about 75 percent of all Hispanics spoke Spanish in the home--even many Hispanics who can trace their ancestry to the original settlement of the U.S. Southwest between 1598 and 1769. Spanish language retention rates vary geographically; parts of Texas and New Mexico have language retention rates over 90 percent, whereas parts of Colorado and California have retention rates lower than 30 percent.

Hispanic retention rates are so high in parts of Texas and New Mexico and along the border because the percentage of Hispanics living there is also very high. Laredo, Texas; Chimayo, New Mexico; and Nogales, Arizona, for example, all have Hispanic populations greater than 90 percent. Furthermore, in these place Hispanics have always been the majority population.^[4] These communities are called continuous communities, because Hispanics have continuously been the majority population since they were settled. Anglos moving into these communities often Hispanicize rather than assimilate.

A different kind of Hispanization is common in California, where many historically white cities are experiencing rapid growth of Hispanic population (due to chain family immigration and high Hispanic fertility rates) while their non-Hispanic population is steady or shrinking. A good example is Santa Ana, a city that was only 25% Hispanic as recently as 1970. 2006 American Community Survey estimated its population as 77.5% Hispanic and 51% foreign born; 72% of residents spoke Spanish at home, and 50% didn't speak English very well.