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Life in the Hispanic American Culture

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Life in the Hispanic American Culture
Life in the Hispanic-American Culture: Vida not so Loca
Mariah Brooke Cruz
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Life in the Hispanic-American Culture: Vida not so Loca

Introduction Family life has always been a topic of research and questioning. However, after reviewing different sources dealing with different backgrounds and perspectives, questions still remain. What makes the family? Do certain cultures really change the upbringing, mindset, and outcome of the individual? In the following paper, the Hispanic-American family life will be analyzed in-depth with the help of collected data to present the different characteristics of the widespread culture. This paper will prove the point that not everyone is equal; in fact, the differences make quite the statement
Background
First, the term “Hispanic-American” needs to be defined. Technically, the word Hispanic refers to people of Spanish-speaking descent, whether from Spain, Mexico, or even Cuba. Latino is synonymous with Hispanic, though chicano refers to Mexican-Americans. For the remainder of the paper, “Hispanic-American” will be used in the common connotation is has earned in the southwestern United States: those that have Mexican heritage that are living in the United States. The story of Hispanic-Americans arrival in the U. S. of A. is not one of magic and fairytales who appeared overnight; in fact, Spanish colonies were established long before the Britain crossed over. (Guisepi) Traditional American history classes focus more on the growth of English colonies in North America, then the rebellious independent nation in 1776 and the development of the United States from east to west. This treatment easily omits the fact that there was significant colonization by Spain of what is now the American Southwest from the 16th century onward. It also tends to ignore, until the Mexican War is mentioned, that the whole Southwest, from Texas westward to California, was a Spanish-speaking territory with

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