Soul of the Matter

Does ethnicity imply an ability to speak the language of one’s grandparents? If you can’t speak Spanish or Japanese or Chinese or Korean, can you really lay claim to “ethnic soul”?

“Philosophically, if someone identifies ethnicity with native knowledge of the language, then someone who does not speak that language would not be ethnic,” says Santiago Sia, an assistant professor of philosophy and director of the Asian and Pacific Studies program at Loyola Marymount University.

And, he says, “it is true that through the language a particular ethnic group’s culture is transmitted and appreciated.

“However, the word ethnic need not narrowly be identified with its linguistic connotation. It is possible for somebody to consider himself or herself as belonging to a particular ethnic group and yet not speak the language, and this is where I would put the third generation.

“The appreciation of one’s culture can be achieved through other means such as living within a society where traditional values, certain customs, conventions and history are observed and learned even if in a different language. One can still have ethnic soul without the language.”

Leticia Quezada, a second-generation Latina and board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District says having an “ethnic soul” is a matter of life experience rather than a skill.

“With or without the language one can still have an ethnic soul. There are many Anglos who by their culture and upbringing are Mexican because they were born and raised in Mexico or lived in Latino neighborhoods all their lives and were exposed to that culture. That situation does happen,” Quezada, 37, says.

Vivien Bonzo, president of the Olvera Street Merchant’s Assn. and a third-generation Mexican-American, says: “Even though someone doesn’t know the language, that person may know other aspects of the ethnic group’s culture. I think Mexican-Americans hunger for culture and for knowledge of their ancestry regardless of their linguistic skills.”

Bonzo, 34, says she is a perfect example. When she was a child, her bilingual parents stressed “learning English properly” to her and her 35-year-old brother. Her parents spoke Spanish to each other and Bonzo and her brother spoke English.

“We never did learn Spanish as children. We thought it was funny when we heard our parents speak it,” says Bonzo who later learned Spanish through her work at the family’s La Golondrina Restaurant on Olvera Street.

“I learned it on the job and I’m fluent in both English and Spanish. I’ve always been surrounded by culture even though the language wasn’t always there. I’ve always had an ethnic soul.”

Grace Morales, 45, affirmative action coordinator and recruiter for the Los Angeles County Health Services Department, speaks and writes English and Spanish fluently. Her two boys, ages 9 and 18, are third-generation Latinos who grew up speaking Spanish at home but lost the language when they entered school.

Morales says: “I want to communicate with them the best that I can, and my time hasn’t allowed me to give them Spanish lessons.”

Still, she realizes the importance of being bilingual in the marketplace and has mapped out a plan that will include speaking Spanish at home on certain days.

She says that despite her children’s lack of Spanish, “my kids know about Mexican history and Chicano studies because I teach it to them. They know they are Mejicanos , they are proud to be members of an ethnic group. When my youngest was 7 years old, someone asked him what he was. He said: ‘I’m a Mexican vaquero (cowboy). He may not have the language, but he has ethnic soul.”