<ol>
<li><p>Being–or, more accurately, having been temporarily–“integrated in African culture” would not make him African.</p></li>
<li><p>Bad example. Most African-Americans have been estranged fron African culture for generations. That’s not what makes them African-American. And Africans get considered as international applicants, not as African-Americans. And Americans who are descended from white South Africans don’t get to check the “African-American” box. That’s a matter of settled policy.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>@vipstephen - I don’t think you understand what ethnicity is. Yes, it is a culture, but it isn’t one one can typically acclimate into. An ethnicity is based off of genealogy and ancestry - it’s not based on someone liking a group’s music or fashion. To belong to an ethnic category, one should be descended from people of that ethnicity. One can’t just “decide” that he wants to be Hispanic; it’s a lot deeper than that.</p>
<p>The U.S. Census definition:
</p>
<p>By this definition, Brazilians are not Hispanic</p>
<p>I found this really interesting - [url=<a href=“http://www.diffen.com/difference/Hispanic_vs_Latino]Hispanic”>Hispanic vs Latino - Difference and Comparison | Diffen]Hispanic</a> vs Latino - Difference and Comparison | Diffen<a href=“never%20posted%20links%20here,%20so%20I%20don’t%20know%20if%20it’ll%20show%20up”>/url</a>. Really clarifies the differences</p>
<p>VIP: To answer your question:
NOOOOOOOO.</p>
<p>If you mark yourself as hispanic for the college’s purposes, you’d be lying and deceiving the school that you are latino and a URM; and for that, you would get a major KARMA payback. </p>
<p>Embarrassed and unhappy by your culture and family? Huh?</p>
<p>Race blind admissions will help solve most of these problems. No one deserves an unfair advantage in admissions especially because of race. They should remove race on college applications and once your admitted to the school, you can update your race on your application. All raced based preferences in admissions breed are unfair advantages for students who may not have worked as hard as another deserving student, but was admitted specifically because they are an URM.</p>
<p>White South African doesn’t qualify as “African.” The latter is origins in the sub-Saharan peoples. You are stretching this so thin it is ridiculous. It’s not your affinity for a culture. Otherwise, you could take it so far as liking to eat some food all the time. Argue all you want, what matters is how adcoms will view it. Ie, you’re stretching, they’ll get that and your judgment will come into question.</p>
<p>Everyone:
In a hypothetical situation, if a white child was born in France, but 4 years after living in Paris, moved to Argentina, and is raised there for the rest of his/her adolescent life, under your guys’ definitions, he/ she CANNOT identify as Hispanic. This makes absolutely no sense to me. Sure, he/ she wasn’t born into the culture directly, but the child would have more in common with Argentinian (“Hispanic”) culture than French culture.
@aunt bea
I’ve already stated that I will NOT mark myself as Hispanic-why would I be embarrassed about being white/ asian? Come on now, that’s nonsense. To all future commenters please acknowledge this, I’m sick of repeating it. I am not marking myself as Hispanic.
@Stanx89
I agree with you 100% now.</p>
<p>Guys, Hispanic is not a race but more a group of cultures united by the Spanish language. Yes, cultures. Mexicans are different from Argentinians who are different from Cubans. You can be a mulato Dominican, Italian Uruguayan, mestizo Mexican, Asian Peruvian, or a Cuban of canarian descent and still be Hispanic! The op obviously was not raised in a hispanic culture, so I’d say no, you shouldn’t mark Hispanic.</p>
<p>Also, to add on, a lot of Americans have a skewed viewed of what a Hispanic is because the majority of Hispanics in the USA are poor, mestizo Mexicans. Latin America is a very diverse place!</p>
<p>In your hypothetical example, I see no reason why the kid shouldn’t be able to check the Hispanic box. I actually have an Argentinean friend of Italian descent. </p>
<p>Have u ever seen a Miss Venezuela who wasn’t of European descent?</p>
<p>@vipstephen I’m happy that I got you to see things in a different light. I think you should ignore any comments from people who attack you on here with no clear evidence to back up there claims. Some people are just plain ignorant. </p>
<p>Keep your head up brother and think of what you post before you post it. Most People will respond on here negatively towards you without giving you any insight or quality advice that will help you come to a clear decision on your dilemma.</p>
<p>@stanx89
Haha you did too, originally (just kidding!)
I do thank you for enlightening me though. And you nailed it right on the head (in your concluding comments).</p>
<p>@vipstephen I came a long way in life brother and if you have any questions for me I will do my best to answer them.</p>
<p>I think ‘integration’ is more than staying in a country for a month, or a year. I, an immigrant, am integrated into Western society because I’ve lived here most of my life, my family owns property here, does not visit frequently, I speak the language fluently, have attended school here and will attend university here. </p>
<p>The example about the French-Argentinian is tricky. I feel like people don’t regard 1st generation immigrants from country to country as true members of a country because the roots aren’t as deep. This is probably compounded if the individual moves a lot. If I move from North America to Europe or Asia, will I be 100% Canadian (without a Canadian passport)? I’d feel uncomfortable writing that and my parents probably more so. If the kids of the French guy living in Argentina apply to US schools as US citizens, they can likely say they’re Hispanic. </p>
<p>But anyway if you’re a sophomore, no point worrying about it now. Be proud of yourself and excel.</p>
<p>Thank you!!</p>
<p>The kid in stephen’s example would be a citizen of either France or Argentina, living outside the U.S. He would be an international applicant. Whether he classifies himself as Hispanic for purposes of college admissions is moot. Any admissions boost for Hispanic applicants is only for U.S. citizens or permanent residents.</p>
<p>In vipstephen’s example, if that child had to mark his race/ethnicity in Argentina, I doubt he would mark “Hispanic”. The people around him might be Hispanic, but he and his family are still French people, from France. Now, whether someone in the US would view him as Hispanic or not, I don’t know - but, being that my family is Argentinian, I doubt that anyone there would see him as Hispanic. It’s not just a culture, but no matter how many times I say that, those who disagree aren’t going to listen. If you were actually Hispanic, you would understand it from a Hispanic’s perspective. I mean, if an American moved to Japan at age 4, could he or she now come back and claim to be Asian? Or Japanese, since that is an ethnicity? Hispanics are Hispanics because they are descendants of the Spanish-speaking peoples that established the Spanish-speaking countries we know today.</p>
<p>The box is just a box. If you moved to Japan and truly were profoundly influenced by the culture, I’d think you could find ways to reflect that in your application. Not simply building on your own stereotypes of what it means to be part of that. “Culture” is a deeply ingrained set of customs, influences and views. </p>
<p>The point isn’t who can “say” they adopted the ways of a group or people. The engagement and immersion are about far more than a visit, an address, or making friends. You have got to see the distinction. Adcoms do. </p>
<p>Are your own cultural roots in that society? Or you’re a newbie wannabe? I think some are speaking of a patina.</p>