“Anglo” and Spanish-Speaking Americans: Contrasts and Similarities

To some extent people behave as they do because they are members of groups. Some of us speak Spanish before we speak English; this happens because some of us are born into families and larger groups that use Spanish for communication and then, as we grow and move beyond our home and neighborhood, we find that our Spanish-speaking friends and relatives are part of a larger group that talks and writes in English. And so we learn English too.

Most of us regard a nice, thick, juicy steak, as one of the finest foods we can think of; millions upon millions of the people of India would be horrified at the thought of eating beef. We Christians characteristically sing in our religious ceremonies; other peoples dance or slaughter animals. In our medicine we make diagnoses by examining the sick person; some other peoples make diagnoses by rolling out stones to see the patterns into which they fall or by examining the entrails of a bird.

In this paper our task is to consider two large, poorly defined, intermingled populations — Anglos (people of English-speaking background) and Spanish-speakers in the American Southwest — and to ask what behaviors, if any, result from membership in or identification with one of these populations or another. Phrased another way, the question is, What does it mean to be an Anglo or a Spanish-speaking American? What does it mean for the way one regards himself and other people? For the way one goes about solving the innumerable problems of living? For the attitudes and the values that one develops and lives by?