As we approach the 4th of July with all its patriotic celebrations, it is worth adding to the list of American accomplishments the creation of hyphenated ethnics: the Italian-, Irish-, Jewish-, Mexican-, Chinese-, etc.- American. The immigrant experience in the United States has entailed making both sides of the hyphen. …
One advantage of studying contemporary over historical immigration that we have more tools for the study. Some survey research casts light on how Hispanic or Latino consciousness has developed. For example, a recent study compared the answers of Hispanics who took a survey in English to those who took it in Spanish. [cont.]
Claude Fischer, UC Berkeley