Ethnic Identity: Developing a Latina/o Identity

Wednesday, October 16, 2019 at 12:30pm to 2:00pm

Building 9, 451
105 MASSACHUSETTS AVE, Cambridge, MA 02139

A session of the Myron Weiner Seminar Series on International Migration. 

Latinos are now the largest minority group in the US -- roughly 18 % of the population.  Contrary to popular images, they are also a very heterogeneous population, composed of many different groups, such as people who have been part of the US since the mid-19th century as well as very recent immigrants; labor migrants as well as refugees; longstanding citizens and the undocumented; Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central and South Americans. In this talk, Professor Silvia Pedraza examines the development of a pan-Latino identity as Latinos or Hispanics from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. 

Four theories regarding how an ethnic identity develops are presented:  the cultural, material, structural, and historical. The concepts that developed over the history of sociology are also surveyed: assimilation; internal colonialism; incorporation; and transnationalism.

Professor Pedraza argues that Latinos or Hispanics in the U.S. today are a community of culture but not yet a fully developed community of interest; thus, only partially an institutional community. Her analysis highlights Latinos’ contrasting processes of incorporation, focusing on: their time of arrival in the U.S.; regional concentration; type of migration and legal status; social class and occupations; generational consciousness; and political life.

Event Type

Conferences/Seminars/Lectures

Events By Interest

Academic, Diversity/Inclusion

Events By Audience

Public, MIT Community, Students, Alumni, Faculty, Staff

Events By School

School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS)

Website

http://cis.mit.edu/programs/internati...

Department
Center for International Studies
Hashtag

#Identity

Contact Email

amteglas@mit.edu

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