Re: double surnames and Cultural Identity

["Erlinda Castanon-Long" <longsjourney@...>]

Well said Ed, I had heard that before... maybe part of my problem is 
a feeling of unwarrented guilt, I'm not even sure of what!  All my 
ancestors ever asked of us was not to sully the name Castanon, no 
more no less.. not a word about where we came from but more about 
where we are going.. thank you for your well thought out input.
Linda in Everett

--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Edward Serros" <ed@s...> wrote:
>
> --- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Erlinda Castanon-Long"
> <longsjourney@y...> wrote:
> >
> > I want to thank everyone for the input on double surnames...Many 
of
> us did not marry Hispanic but would have kept our 
> > maiden name regardless. Just like someone said, it's a matter of 
> > family pride..
> > 
> > One more question.. which is 'politically' correct to designate 
our 
> > nationality of origin if we or our ancestors were from Mexico... 
> > Hispanic, Latino, Mexican-American or American-Mexican?  I find 
I 
> > really upset some people when I call myself Hispanic. I'm told 
that 
> > excludes my Indio blood... People ask me what my nationality is 
> > because I'm just brown enough to not be Anglo but have light 
green 
> > eyes, my sister get's the same thing and she has blue eyes and 
> > freckles. I still laugh when told I don't look like a Mexican... 
what 
> > does a Mexican look like!!!!
> > 
> > Linda in Everett
> 
> Linda,
> 
> I have debated for a number of days responding to this and I wish 
to
> offend no one. In trying to figure out what to say I decided that I
> would simply try to bring attention to a book published in 1919 
that
> struggled with the idea of cultural identity, amongst many other
> things. The book was originally written in Spanish by Vicente 
Blasco
> Inañez. It was called "Los Cuatoro Jinetes de Apocalipsis" and is 
more
> commonly known by its English translation "The Four Horsemen of the
> Apocalypse". Ibañez does a fine job in presenting the confusion 
which
> may arise in subsequent generations when the "founder" moves from 
one
>  country/culture (Europe) to another country/culture (Argentina). 
The
> conundrum is presented in a very entertaining manner. Needless to 
say,
> in typical latin fashion, the end is death.
> 
> In the book one of the characters, Julio Madariaga, an immigrant
> Basque, makes a fortune in the Americas (Argentina) and has many
> children, legitimate and illegitimate, brown and fair. His son-in-
law
> is an immigrant Frenchman, Marcelo Denoyers, who says something in
> relation to cultural identity which I will never forget. You or 
others
> in this group may not necessarily agree with it but I quote the
> paragraph from the book.
> 
> "Where a man makes his fortune and raises his family, there is his
> true country," he said sententiously, remembering Madariaga.
> 
> Reread the quote. For what it is worth, Desnoyer's rich son 
returned
> to France to find a majestic country, cultural isolation, personal
> guilt, and finally death on the battlefield.  
> 
> Ed
>