White Latin Americans: Difference between revisions

''Being white'' is a term that emerged from a tradition of [[Race (classification of humans)|racial classification]] that developed as many Europeans colonized large parts of the world and employed classificatory systems to distinguish themselves from the local inhabitants. However, while most present-day racial classifications include a concept of being white that is ideologically connected to European heritage and specific phenotypic and biological features associated with European heritage, there are differences in how people are classified. These differences arise from the various historical processes and social contexts in which a given racial classification is used. As Latin America is characterized by differing histories and social contexts, there is also variance in the perception of whiteness throughout Latin America.<ref>{{cite book|author=Chambers, Sarah C.|year=2003|chapter=Little Middle Ground The Instability of a Mestizo Identity in the Andes, 18th and 19th centuries|title=Race and Nation in Modern Latin American|editor=Nancy P. Appelbaum|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|quote=This blending of culture and genealogy is also reflected in the use of the terms ''Spanish'' and ''white''. For most of the colonial period, Americans of European descent were simply referred to as ''Spaniards''; beginning in the late 18th century, the term ''blanco'' (white) came into increasing but not exclusive use. Even those of presumably mixed ancestry may have felt justified in claiming to be Spanish (and later white) if they participated in the dominant culture by, for example, speaking Spanish and wearing European clothing.(p. 33)}}</ref>l