Ethnicity Question- which box to check off for being Spain spanish.

Comments

• 1 Like

  MissChanandler Alum Member Sage ⭐

  September 2018 3256 karma

  I think that they all are meant to exclude Spain.
• 1 Like

  10000019 Alum Member

  September 2018 3279 karma

  Do you identify as Hispanic or European?
  LSAC doesn't specify which box you should mark so it is up to you.
• Raychul123 Member

  September 2018 179 karma

  Yeah I am not sure what to check off. I speak fluent Spanish and grew up exposed to the culture as I am 50%, yet I always considered Spain culture to be European. ??‍♀️
• 1 Like

  Rigid Designator Alum Member

  September 2018 edited September 2018 1091 karma

  I would count Spanish as European and therefore Caucasian. But I understand this might be different in America. Unfortunately these terms lack universally accepted definitions, so you might just have to pick whatever feels 'right', or otherwise go with what the school says.

  Just to illustrate the point... In the U.K. the term "caucasian" is barely used. The U.K. census uses categories like "White British", "Asian British", and "Black African". Spanish people (generally) would be categorised as "Any other White background". But then the police use a different categorisation whereby a white Englishman would be "White - North European" and a Spanish person would be "White - South European". On the flip side an American who had predominantly Spanish roots might not identify as "white", they may identify as "Hispanic".
• 1 Like

  Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  September 2018 8392 karma

  I think in a lot of situations, you can check Hispanic and also a race (black, white, etc) since Hispanic includes lots of various races (black Hispanic, white Hispanic, etc). I feel like I would consider Spain as white Hispanic typically? And that seems appropriate for you. If you were able to check both, I probably would. It sounds like you identify a lot with Hispanic culture, so it's appropriate to check that.
• 2 Likes

  10000019 Alum Member

  September 2018 3279 karma

  @Raychul123 said:
  I always considered Spain culture to be European

  I think you've answered your own question.
• 1 Like

  Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  September 2018 edited September 2018 8392 karma

  Just did some googling (because I'm nerdy and curious haha), and it looks like in the US, hispanic usually refers to anyone from a Spanish-speaking country/culture. Latino generally refers to people from Latin America, which wouldn't include Spain. But hispanic is all encompassing of people from Spanish-speaking countries. And as I thought, hispanic was intended to be an ethnicity question which is separate from race. So I think caucasian hispanic would be the most applicable to you, if you are able to select both of those.
• Raychul123 Member

  September 2018 179 karma

  @10000019 said:

  @Raychul123 said:
  I always considered Spain culture to be European

  I think you've answered your own question.

  Yeah that’s why it threw me off when UPenn included Spain for that box ....
• 1 Like

  Raychul123 Member

  September 2018 179 karma

  Thank you everyone!