Examination of the Racial and Ethnic Identities of South Americans in the Midwest

South Americans are one of the fastest growing Latino groups and immigrant groups in the United States and yet, they are an understudied group. To examine South Americans’ integration into U.S. society, this study will focus... [ view full abstract ]

South Americans are one of the fastest growing Latino groups and immigrant groups in the United States and yet, they are an understudied group. To examine South Americans’ integration into U.S. society, this study will focus on their racial and ethnic identities as proxies of assimilation. Assimilation involves the absorption of one group into another group, denoting how people identify with and have solidarity to racial and ethnic groups. Integration into racial and ethnic groups can include feelings or the lack of feelings of belonging or solidarity towards as well as distance and alienation from racial and ethnic groups such as Whites, Americans, Latinos, Hispanics, Blacks, national origin groups or other groups. This presentation reveals how South Americans’ identify in the Midwest and in particular the meanings and saliency of their racial and ethnic identities at the macro and micro level.
I conducted 45 interviews with mostly immigrants from Colombia, Peru and Argentina in Ohio. Ohio was selected because it is one of the states besides Illinois that have the largest population of South Americans in the Midwest. I found that Colombians, Peruvians and Argentinians prefer to identify as Latino/a at the micro level because of the lack of compatriots and the negotiation of racial and ethnic boundaries to create solidarity with others with similar language, culture and racialized experiences. Additionally, at the macro level and in particular Census questions on race and ethnicity were confusing to the respondents. Mostly, the respondents did not identify as White but rather chose other and felt that the census categories did not reflect their racial and ethnic origins and has no importance in their lives. In sum, South Americans are assimilating into panethnic group and identity.