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The Journal of Speculative Philosophy 17.2 (2003) 139-141



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Hispanic/Latino Identity: A Philosophical Perspective. Jorge J. E. Gracia. London: Blackwell, 2000. Pp. xviii + 235. $66.95 h.c. 0-631-21763-0; $28.95 pbk. 0-631-21764-9.

It would be impossible to overestimate the contribution that Jorge Gracia's book makes to the philosophical fields of ethnic and Hispanic/Latino studies. In fact, the book has already succeeded in promoting a lively discussion among leading figures in these fields. 1 In what follows, I will review the book's main philosophical theses and raise some critical questions as invitations for further philosophical reflection on Hispanic/Latino identity.

The first thesis defended by Gracia is that Hispanic/Latino identity is not founded on common properties. Gracia criticizes any essentialist view that tries to find something shared by all Hispanic/Latinos at all times. His critique of essentialism is developed in chapters 1-2 through a discussion of the appropriateness of the labels "Hispanic" and "Latino/a" as ethnic names. Gracia examines a battery of empirical, logical, pragmatic, and political arguments against any justification of the use of these labels that appeals to common properties. The upshot of this examination is that the ethnic identity of a group is neither homogeneous nor static. This is the starting-point of the nonessentialist conception of ethnic identity developed in chapter 3.

The core thesis of Gracia's view is that Hispanic identity should be understood historically, that is, as the identity of a historical family formed by "a unique web of changing historical relations" (49). On this familial-historical view, the unity of Hispanics is not a unity of commonality, but a unity of community, "a historical unity founded on relations" (50). According to Gracia, the origin of the complex chain of historical events that unites "our Hispanic family" is "the encounter" of Iberia and America in 1492: "Our family first came into being precisely because of the events which the encounter unleashed" (50). Gracia argues that "Hispanic" is the only appropriate name for our historical family because it is the only label that can bring together all those Iberians and Americans who have come to share an ethnic identity as a result of historical events.

The main strength of Gracia's familial-historical view is its capacity to account for change and diversity as fundamental aspects of Hispanic identity. On the one hand, Gracia's diachronic view depicts Hispanic identity as something dynamic that is always in the making and can never be fixed once and for all. This picture brings to the fore the contingencies of the past that have contributed to the formation of our Hispanic identity, and it underscores that the future of our Hispanic family is a task for which we have to take responsibility. As Gracia puts it in the Conclusion: "The future is always open and can be [End Page 139] different. We are not trapped in our identity" (190). On the other hand, Gracia's familial-historical view emphasizes the nonhomogeneous character of Hispanic identity. Within this view, Hispanics share only "family resemblances" and their identity "is bound up with difference" (33). Gracia's analysis of ethnic groups as historical families shows that the homogeneity of group identity is a myth, for families are not homogeneous wholes composed of pure elements: "They include contradictory elements and involve mixing. Indeed, contradiction and mixing seems to be of the essence, for a living unity is impossible without contradiction and heterogeneity" (50). This is particularly true of our Hispanic family that has been constituted through mixing or mestizaje at all levels. Chapter 5 elaborates this point in detail by offering an account of how "our unity in difference" has been formed by mestizaje. This account gives special attention to the cultural mestizaje that characterizes all aspects of Hispanic life from language, art, and religion to music, cuisine, and clothing (see pp. 115ff).

Despite its unquestionable virtues, Gracia's familial-historical view also has some weaknesses. A critical look at the externalist and realist view of...

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