As a white European, when I first found out about the separate Latino ethnic designation, I found it hard to get my head around it. In Europe, Latino people would either be classified by nationality, or as one of white/black/Indigenous American/mixed when discussing them in a racial context, based on their ancestry. I don't think the concept of being Latino as something separate from your nationality is well understood here. So no, it isn't just you. As I'm sure you're aware, race is a social construct, and it is interpreted differently all around the world, so ways of conceptualizing race from other countries are bound to seem strange if you haven't grown up with them! That's what I tell myself, anyway...
About the differences between Europeans: although we like to pretend that you can easily tell a white European's nationality from their looks, in reality, white Europeans are pretty homogenous. Once you take away markers like clothes, hairstyles, tans and body language, it is a lot harder to tell apart say a French person and a German than people like to believe. You can't really go by stereotypical colouring, either, because there are redheaded Spanish people, naturally blond Italians and dark Brits and Scandinavians. Basically, we Europeans would struggle to correctly guess a European nationality in many contexts, so we don't expect that you would be able to either!
Re: According to AO3 stats Kylux is catching up to Stormpilot
The European equivalent to Latino is Arab. It's a category of people based loosely off geography and language with a diverse range of people.
People who dismiss Poe as white also tend to be people who aren't particularly globally aware. The idea that Americans (people from the US) clarify that Poe is Latino because they are super concerned about race is petty dismissive of over a continents worth of people. Obviously you are going to be more familiar with the countries near your own, but still.
Re: According to AO3 stats Kylux is catching up to Stormpilot
I had never heard Arab used as a parallel concept, but that makes perfect sense, thanks for that. I think I get the concept of Latino a bit better now I have something to relate it to from my own part of the world.
Not sure if you were talking to me or to the anon I was replying to, but I don't think Americans are more obsessed with race, and I didn't say that. If anything, Europeans are because we would talk about Oscar Isaac's race based on his ancestry, even when it has little to do with how he is conceptualized in his own culture. I am ESL so maybe that doesn't come across well in my writing, sorry.
Re: According to AO3 stats Kylux is catching up to Stormpilot
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Re: According to AO3 stats Kylux is catching up to Stormpilot
(Anonymous) 2016-03-25 01:35 pm (UTC)(link)About the differences between Europeans: although we like to pretend that you can easily tell a white European's nationality from their looks, in reality, white Europeans are pretty homogenous. Once you take away markers like clothes, hairstyles, tans and body language, it is a lot harder to tell apart say a French person and a German than people like to believe. You can't really go by stereotypical colouring, either, because there are redheaded Spanish people, naturally blond Italians and dark Brits and Scandinavians. Basically, we Europeans would struggle to correctly guess a European nationality in many contexts, so we don't expect that you would be able to either!
Re: According to AO3 stats Kylux is catching up to Stormpilot
(Anonymous) 2016-03-25 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)People who dismiss Poe as white also tend to be people who aren't particularly globally aware. The idea that Americans (people from the US) clarify that Poe is Latino because they are super concerned about race is petty dismissive of over a continents worth of people. Obviously you are going to be more familiar with the countries near your own, but still.
Re: According to AO3 stats Kylux is catching up to Stormpilot
(Anonymous) 2016-03-26 01:00 am (UTC)(link)Not sure if you were talking to me or to the anon I was replying to, but I don't think Americans are more obsessed with race, and I didn't say that. If anything, Europeans are because we would talk about Oscar Isaac's race based on his ancestry, even when it has little to do with how he is conceptualized in his own culture. I am ESL so maybe that doesn't come across well in my writing, sorry.
Re: According to AO3 stats Kylux is catching up to Stormpilot
(Anonymous) 2016-03-26 01:18 am (UTC)(link)