Negotiating Latina/o Ethnicity in NYC
Social Interactions and Ethnic Self- Presentation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/dl.v10i16.113576Keywords:
situational ethnicity, multiple ethnic identities, code-switching, Latina/os, New York CityAbstract
Today, an increasing number of people regularly switch from ethnicity
to ethnicity in normal discourse, in an attempt to maximize their
economic and political interests. This paper focuses specifically on
ethnic flexibility among Latina/os in New York City. Drawing on
ethnographic, linguistic, and social network data we explore how
Latina/os in NYC negotiate between multiple ethnic identities in
everyday contexts. Through language and dialect switches, accents,
and even calculated silence the Latinos in our research negotiated
NYC’s multi-level system of categorization. We hope to show that no
one-to-one relationship exists between subjective feelings of ethnic
belongingness and the use of ethnic markers. Ethnic markers,
particularly language-related ones, are manipulated in a number of
creative ways by members and non-members alike, pushing the limits
of what constitutes ethnic group membership and challenging notions
of ethnic authenticity.
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Toribio, A. J. (2002) ‘Spanish-English Code-Switching among US Latinos’. International Journal for the Sociology of Language 158: 89-119.
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Williams, A.M. (2006) Bilingualism and the Construction of Ethnic Identity among Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Zentella, A. C. (1990) ‘Lexical Leveling in Four New York City Spanish Dialects: Linguistic and Social Factors’. Hispania 73(4): 1094-1105.
Zentella, A.C. (1997) Growing Up Bilingual. Blackwell Publishers: Oxford.
Bailey, B. (2000) ‘The Language of Multiple Identities among Dominican Americans’. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 10(2): 190-223.
Barth, F. (1969) ‘Introduction’, in Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Little, Brown: Boston.
Becker, K. R. (1997) ‘Spanish/English Bilingual Codeswitching: A Syncretic Model’. Bilingual Review 22(1): 3-31.
Blom, J. P. and J. J. Gumperz (1972) ‘Social Meaning in Linguistics Structures: Code-Switching in Norway’, in J. J. Gumperz and D. Hymes, (eds.) Directions in Sociolinguistics: The Ethnography of Communication. Holt, Rinehart & Winston: New York.
Brubaker, R. (2004) Ethnicity without Groups. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.
Bucholtz, M. and K. Hall (2005) ‘Identity and Interaction: A Sociocultural Linguistic Approach’. Discourse Studies 7(4-5): 584-614.
Cutler, C. (1999) ‘Yorkville Crossing: White Teens, Hip Hop and African American English’. Journal of Sociolinguistics 3(4): 428-442.
Fishman, J. (1977) ‘Language and Ethnicity’, in Howard Giles, (ed.) Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations. Academic Press: London.
Gafaranga, J. (2001) Linguistic Identities in Talk-in-Interaction: Order in Bilingual Conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 33: 1901–1925.
Giles, H. and N. Coupland (1991) ‘Language, Ethnicity, and Intergroup Communication’, in Language: Contexts and Consequences. Open University Press: Milton Keynes.
Giles, H. and P. Johnson (1981) ‘The Role of Language in Ethnic Group Relations’, in J.C. Turner and H. Giles, (eds.) Intergroup Behaviour. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
Greer, T. (2005) ‘Co-Constructing Identity: The Use of ‘Haafu’ by a Group of Multi-Ethnic Japanese Teenagers, in J. Cohen, K.T. McAlister, K.Rolstad, J. McSwan, (eds.) ISB4: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism. Cascadilla Press: Somerville, MA.
Gumperz, J. (2001) ‘Interactional Sociolinguistics: A Personal Perspective’, in D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, and H. Hamilton, (eds.) The Handbook of Discourse Analysis. Blackwell: Malden, MA.
Horowitz, D.L. (1975) ‘Ethnic Identity’, in Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan, (eds.) Ethnicity: Theory and Experience. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.
Horowitz, D.L. (1985) Ethnic Groups in Conflict. University of California Press: Berkeley.
Jacobson, R. (1982) ‘The Social Implications of Intra-Sentential Code-Switching’, in J. Amastae and L. Elías-Olivares, (eds.) Spanish in the United States: Sociolinguistic Aspects. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Hirschman C. R. Alba, and R. Farley (2000). The meaning and measurement of race in the U.S. census: Glimpses into the future. Demography, 37 (3): 381-393.
Kelly, M.E. and J. Nagel (2002) ‘Ethnic Re-identification: Lithuanian Americans and Native Americans’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 28(2): 275-289.
Li, W. (1994) ‘Three Generations, Two Languages, One Family: Language Choice and Language Shift in a Chinese Community in Britain’. Multilingual Matters: Clevedon.
Lipski, J.M. (2004) El Español de América. Third Edition. Catedra: Madrid.
Lo, A. (1999) ‘Codeswitching, Speech Community Membership, and the Construction of Ethnic Identity’. Journal of Sociolinguistics 3/4: 461-479.
Loveman, M. (1999) ‘Is "Race" Essential?’. American Sociological Review 64(6): 891-898.
Morning, A. (2003) ‘Race by the Book: Depiction of Human Difference in U.S. High School Curricula’. Working Paper #25, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies. Princeton University, Princeton.
Nagel, J. (1994) ‘Constructing Ethnicity: Creating and Recreating Ethnic Identity and Culture’. Social Problems 41: 152-170.
Office of Management and Budget. Provisional Guidance on the Implementation of the 1997 Standards for Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. Washington, DC:
Office of Management and Budget, 2000. http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/re_guidance2000update.pdf. Retrieved December 2, 2007.
Padilla, F. M. (1984) ‘On the Nature of Latino Ethnicity’. Social Science Quarterly 65: 651-664.
Patterson, O. (1975) ‘Context and Choice in Ethnic Allegiance: A Theoretical Framework and Caribbean Case Study’, in Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan, (eds.) Ethnicity: Theory and Experience. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.
Plotnicov, L. and M. Silverman (1978) ‘Jewish Ethnic Signalling: Social Bonding in Contemporary American Society’. Ethnology 17(4): 407-423.
Portes, A. and J. Böröcz (1989) ‘Contemporary Immigration: Theoretical Perspectives on its Determinants and Modes of Incorporation’. International Migration Review 23(3): 606-630.
Portes, A. and R.G. Rumbaut (2006) ‘Who They Are and Why They Come’, in Immigrant America: A Portrait. University of California Press: Berkley.
Portes, A. and C. Truelove (1987) ‘Making Sense of Diversity: Recent Research on Hispanic Minorities in the United States’. Annual Review of Sociology 13: 359-385.
Rampton, B. (1995) ‘Crossing: Language and Ethnicity among Adolescents’. Longman: London.
Rampton, B. (2000) ‘Crossing’. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 9(1-2): 54-56.
Ricourt, M. and R. Danta (2003) Hispanas de Queens: Latino Panethnicity in a New York City Neighborhood. Cornell University Press: Ithaca.
Sebba, M. and T. Wooton (1998) ‘We, They and Identity’, in Code-Switching in Conversation: Language, Interaction and Identity. Routledge: London.
Suárez-Orozco, M. and M.M. Páez (2002) ‘Introduction: The Research Agenda’, in M. Suárez-Orozco and M.M. Páez, (eds.) Latinos: Remaking America. University of California Press: Berkeley.
Stepick, A. and C.D. Stepick (2002) ‘Power and Identity: Miami Cubans’, in M. Suárez-Orozco and M.M. Páez, (eds.) Latinos: Remaking America. University of California Press: Berkeley.
Sweetland, J. (2002) ‘Unexpected but Authentic Use of an Ethnically-Marked Dialect’. Journal of Sociolinguistics 6(4): 514-536.
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J. C. (1986) ‘The Social Identity Theory of Inter-Group Behavior, in S. Worchel and L. W. Austin (eds.), Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Nelson-Hall: Chicago.
Toribio, A. J. (2002) ‘Spanish-English Code-Switching among US Latinos’. International Journal for the Sociology of Language 158: 89-119.
Torres-Saillant, S. (2002) ‘Epilogue: Problematic Paradigms: Racial Diversity and Corporate Identity in the Latino Community’, in M. Suárez-Orozco and M.M. Páez, (eds.) Latinos: Remaking America. University of California Press: Berkeley.
Waters, M. (1990) Ethnic Options: Choosing Identity in America. University of California Press: Berkley.
Williams, A.M. (2006) Bilingualism and the Construction of Ethnic Identity among Chinese Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Zentella, A. C. (1990) ‘Lexical Leveling in Four New York City Spanish Dialects: Linguistic and Social Factors’. Hispania 73(4): 1094-1105.
Zentella, A.C. (1997) Growing Up Bilingual. Blackwell Publishers: Oxford.
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Published
2009-01-01
How to Cite
Goldbarg, R. N., & Negrón, W. (2009). Negotiating Latina/o Ethnicity in NYC: Social Interactions and Ethnic Self- Presentation. Diálogos Latinoamericanos, 10(16), 23. https://doi.org/10.7146/dl.v10i16.113576
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