I don't think it's really so much an issue of race -- which risks digressing us into the whole "but is it science!?" issue -- it's more that there isn't a handier term than that for what really boils down to: do you, or do you not, get judged in your country by a negative standard based on your appearance?
I can see how "Latino" might be US-centric on its face, but I'd argue it's more a New World thing than only the US -- from what I can tell, it's not like the tensions were born here. They run through the Latino-New-World. A'course, you can name almost any region and there will be some distinction that does make it different from its neighbors: I've met Navajo who'd want you to know, in no uncertain terms, that the Hopi are interlopers and johnny-come-latelys...
Actually, what's probably more useful than the post, at this point, are the comments, because it's there that I've gotten a lot of help thrashing out how to ask the question such that I can get the answers I actually want, which have less to do with "are you a minority in terms of US-perception" and more simply "are you a minority in your culture of residence and if so, are you also a member of an indigenous population and have to deal with institutionalized racism against native peoples?" ... those two concepts tell me more about a person's practical understanding of their daily existence (on top of or alongside the overwhelming global domination in media/economy of US/EU influence). Okay, doesn't tell me everything but still tells me a lot more than just "hey, if you were in the US, would you be a minority?" which obviously would be worthless question for the vast rest of the planet that doesn't live in Kansas.
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Date: 15 May 2010 03:41 am (UTC)I can see how "Latino" might be US-centric on its face, but I'd argue it's more a New World thing than only the US -- from what I can tell, it's not like the tensions were born here. They run through the Latino-New-World. A'course, you can name almost any region and there will be some distinction that does make it different from its neighbors: I've met Navajo who'd want you to know, in no uncertain terms, that the Hopi are interlopers and johnny-come-latelys...
Actually, what's probably more useful than the post, at this point, are the comments, because it's there that I've gotten a lot of help thrashing out how to ask the question such that I can get the answers I actually want, which have less to do with "are you a minority in terms of US-perception" and more simply "are you a minority in your culture of residence and if so, are you also a member of an indigenous population and have to deal with institutionalized racism against native peoples?" ... those two concepts tell me more about a person's practical understanding of their daily existence (on top of or alongside the overwhelming global domination in media/economy of US/EU influence). Okay, doesn't tell me everything but still tells me a lot more than just "hey, if you were in the US, would you be a minority?" which obviously would be worthless question for the vast rest of the planet that doesn't live in Kansas.