How to define being "Latin"

From the various Latino Studies courses I took at Northwestern, one of the most memorable topics I learned about was the different meanings and history behind the two words used to describe people of Latin/Central/South American and Caribbean ancestry, "Latino" and "Hispanic."

I specifically recall one heated discussion in my Latino Studies class in which students disputed whether "Latino" or "Hispanic" should become part of the common-use lexicon. Hispanic, some disputed, was a label created by the U.S. government to classify an ethnic group of people descending from Spanish-speaking countries. The problem was that this term included the Spanish themselves, who always placed themselves as belonging to a different category, that of Europeans (aka White).

Latino, on the other hand, commonly refers to the ethnic group of people strictly descending from Latin/Central/South American and Caribbean countries, and who have a shared history of exploitation and colonization from the Spanish. Technically, I think the term can be used to describe any person whose language has Latin roots, but that would include Italians, Portuguese, French and Romanians. When I refer to Latinos here, I'm talking about the people with this shared history of exploitation and colonization.

In any case, I've come to really notice the distinct cultural differences between Spaniards and Latinos, and I've realized that Spaniards don't generally categorize themselves as "Hispanic" in the same way Americans do. Besides the superiority complex some Spanish hold over other Spanish-speakers of darker skin tone, some Spaniards also like to consider the Spanish-language used by Latinos as archaic. The Spanish are Europeans, plain and simple, while South Americans (which in Spain encompass people from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean as well as those from the South American continent), are Latino. There is no Hispanic.

So I found it strange today when one of the teachers at school referred to our "collective Latin blood" as the reason behind our happy-go-lucky attitude and our love for silly rhymes (such as "Ready Freddy?" or "See ya later, alligator"). Because I've come to see the Spanish in a different category too, and all the things that make me Latin don't really apply to her. My dark hair, my tan skin, my sense of rhythm (which the Spanish really don't have). The one shared "Latin" stereotype we have is that we're loud. So why the sudden urge to group ourselves together?

What I wonder is: If I were to ask a Spaniard in the United States, where would he/she categorize him/herself? Would the cultural similarities and the shared language make them more inclined to group themselves with the Latinos from Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia and Puerto Rico? Or would they still consider themselves closer to the White Man from Europe? When the good people in the Census Bureau are making up these labels for us all, what is the most accurate way to do it? By a shared history? A shared culture? A shared language? Since we know that none of those are mutually exclusive, it certainly makes things a bit more complicated to try and put everyone in to a clean little box. And really, why the need for the box and the categories and labels anyway?

So that's my random thought for the day. And keep in mind my disclaimer: I'm obviously making blatant generalizations, and over-simplifying things. I know things aren't always black and white (or brown and white, in this case), and there's always exceptions. But these are just some random thoughts I have at times that I want to share with y'all.

Except for the Spanish-can't-dance-thing. That's not a generalization -- I'm pretty sure that is true. Particularly since I have yet to see a Spaniard really get down and bust out a good merengue.