LATINS defined
2010 Census Campaign for Louisiana Latins
Earlier, we discussed who Hispanics/Latinos are. Let’s now discuss Latinité, or who Latins are.
Latin identity is now centuries old, and was a very specific, intentional intellectual and political movement, led by the Bonapartes and bonapartists in the 19th century.
When American Exceptionalism became more pronounced – as the U.S. became more concerned with acquisition (through military conflict, or otherwise) of more land and control over resources in the Americas – the French retaliated by establishing a closer relationship with newly independent colonies of Spain in the Americas.
Thusly, the French, in the first half of the 20th century, worked tirelessly to convince the Mexicans, Brazilians and Colombians et al. that France was the locus of culture, intellect, philosophy and republicanism, the only Republic to which these new nations need look for support and sustenance.
The French achieved this alliance by pitching an idea of shared religious, linguistic and social history, in what they called, latinité (latinidad, in Spanish), reportedly first used in France as early as the 1830s in the writing of the Saint Simonian Michel Chevalier. In 1856, in Paris, Chilean politician, Francisco Bilbao Barquín, and the francophile Colombian writer, José María Torres Caicedo, attended conferences where they spoke of two Americas: América latina/Amérique latine and the Anglo America. So ideal for political hegemony and cultural allegiance was the concept, that even the Empire of Napoleon III supported the term and through this affinity was able to install the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph of Austria, as Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico in 1864!
Thus was born the idea of the Latin world, Latin America, based on cultural affinities, which included all nations in the Americas, whose language derived from Latin and whose culture centered around Roman Catholicism. Those languages include French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Latin-based Creole languages (Louisiana Creole, Papiamento, Haitian Creole, Palenquero etc). Outside of the Americas, there is also Romanian and Romansch, two languages deriving from Latin, and a host of additional Latin-based Creole languages spoken globally.
Know that the way I employ latinité is based on cultural affinities, not attempts toward a political hegemonic agenda, as envisioned by bonapartists in the 19th century.
THE LATIN WORLD
Regions of the World where Latin languages are spoken
image source: Robert Lindsay‘s blog.
Blues: French language (Francophone)
Orange: Portuguese language (Lusophone)
Greens: Spanish language (Hispanophone)
Yellow: Italian language (Italophone)
Red: Romanian language (Romanophone)
*Romance Creole languages are included in the map under the Romance language
influencing the Creole language**
Note that Louisiana, Haiti, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines are highlighted.
I would add a couple more, like Surinam, Curaçao, Bonaire, Aruba, Goa, East Timor.
FRENCH & SPANISH LOUISIANA
LATINOS & HISPANICS
SHARED CULTURE: LATINITÉ
THE PEOPLE