Is "Mexican" an ethnicity?

[NewtoTheSouth]

Sometimes I am confused about what constitutes an "ethnicity"?

Yes, it is.

No, It is not.

I don't know either.

[Chazmatazz269]

Nope. Mexico is a nation. Therefore Mexican is a nationality. Natural born Mexicans are generally culturally Latin and/or Hispanic. Meanwhile, the ethnic group associated with central and south America is “Mestizo”. Ethnicity refers to how people relate to a larger group through heritage, language, culture and traditions, but many people conflate ethnicity with race and, as your question proves, nationality.
There are a lot of gray areas in the matter of ethnicity due to cultural blending and colonialism. Identity politics has almost created new ethnicities as people sometimes insist on being identified as “African-American”, “Mexican-American” or the like. The truth is that North America doesn’t have a distinct ethnicity or culture. Even the native Americans are of varied ethnic backgrounds. Most of what we call “America” is the melting pot of many world cultures and heritages. Very little is uniquely “American”.
We’re not particularly unique in that way though. The horn-strong musical stylings of Mariachi is the result of Dutch influence on Mexican culture. The expansion of the major religions has had its impact on cultures worldwide. Mexicans are often strong, traditional Catholics, but Catholicism had to be introduced there. The Mayan and Aztec traditions were very different in almost every conceivable way.

[NewtoTheSouth]

Okay, so German and Irish are not ethnicities? They are nationalities.

[Chazmatazz269]

Right. Native Irish are Celtic and native Germans are, interestingly, Germanic.

[strateguy632]

no - is obvious not race not ethnic. a white can live in mexico. does he stop being a white?

but slang is needed. to avoid judgy people who say: "whatever name" we call any group is a SLUR. pejorative! we are forced to say a country. therefore anyone who talks Spanish (see? i avoided the word speak). we are forced to say portarican or mexican just to avoid criticism.

[KostasKouvalis]

@choco-latte IS it?

I would say, "NO". It's a nationality, and their ethnicities are Mestizo, Hispanic & Indigenous

[choco-latte]

I would say it could be both a nationality and ethnicity if we go by common language and culture instead of just genetics. But they themselves consider it a nationality first and foremost.

[KostasKouvalis]

@choco-latte Not Chicanos though. I saw a video online of a racist Chicano who took a DNA test. He was so confused why it didn't say "Mexican", and started crying and having a breakdown when he saw Spanish in there🤣

[Jersey2]

No. It is a nationality. Ethnically most of them are Hispanic.

[Chazmatazz269]

Language is only one part of ethnicity. Hispanic refers to people from Spanish speaking countries or cultures.

[NewtoTheSouth]

Okay, so Irish and German are not ethnicities? They are nationalities.

[Chazmatazz269]

Right. Native Irish are Celtic and native Germans are, interestingly, Germanic.

[NewtoTheSouth]

@Chazmatazz269 So I am Irish-American. What is my ethnicity?

[Agape93]

Mexican is a nationality. Hispanic is an ethnicity

[Anonymous]

Yes.