A Historical view of US Latinidad and Spanish as a Heritage Language

Abstract

This chapter reviews some aspects of early 20th-century latinidad that inform an understanding of contemporary cultural phenomena and Spanish language inquiry in the current era of renewed nationalist sentiment and fervent debate around (im)migration. It seeks to establish the importance of the 'cultural imaginary' for studies of Spanish language in the US, and addresses three principal phenomena in chronological fashion. The phenomena include the emergence of the concept of 'Spanish (as) heritage' in the context of pre-statehood New Mexico during the early 1900s; the construction and (re)production of latinidad in the cultural industries of the 1910s and 1920s—specifically, Hollywood film, New York music and dance, and urban architecture in the Southwest and Florida. They also include the repercussions of the Great Depression, especially with regards to cultural intervention and (im)migration during the 1930s and 1940s. Spanish as heritage language may be aptly conceptualized through the lens of a collective consciousness and cultural imaginary.