Studying Latino Culture by Ruth Paget
When I worked on team projects with classmates whose parents had come from Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Bolivia in high school and later when I volunteered at intercultural skills workshops for exchange students from Latin America, Spain, and other countries, I knew I would like to work with Latinos and learn Spanish in the future.
The future finally came when I was middle aged and started working as the Youth Services Librarian for Monterey County California. The County had a 51% Hispanic population according to the U.S. census and was growing. Many households only spoke Spanish according to the census as well.
I had studied Spanish independently for twenty years and could read the language. Now I had speak Spanish for work. I began memorizing all library materials that we had in Spanish.
I next went on Radio Bilingue in Salinas, California to do an hour show in Spanish about library services with call-in questions. I did a prepared speech about library services and then fielded questions. People spoke slowly. I was able to respond in Spanish after some quick translation in my head. The hour seemed very long, but was fun at the same time.
That radio show gave me the confidence to speak in Spanish at community events about library services. The result was tremendous participation in summer reading programs for children and at homework centers during the school year. I also loved doing bilingual story times during Latino Heritage Month. I put together a kit of stories, songs, and art projects to do and encouraged children to learn English and Spanish perfectly by high school, so they could learn a third language in high school.
One project that I did not get around to was making a suggested reading list for Latino Heritage Month. I have finally done so with books that helped me better understand Latino culture. The list follows in four categories:
-Politics
-History
-Culture
-Cookbooks
Politics:
-Latinx by Ed Morales
-The Hispanic Republican by Geraldo C. Cadava
-Recovering History, Constructing Race: Indian, Black, and White Roots of Mexican Americans by Martha Mancheca
History:
-The Caribbean: A History of the Region and its Peoples by Stephan Palmie
-The Oxford History of Mexico by William H. Beazley
Culture:
-Puerto Rico is Music! By Maritza Ramirez
-Latin American Folktales from the Hispanic and Indian Traditions by John Bierhorst
Cookbooks:
-Quesadillas by Donna Kelly
-Empanadas: The Hand-Held Pies of Latin America by Sandra Gutierrez
-Taqueria Tacos: A Taco Cookbook to Bring the Flavors of Mexico Home by Leslie Limon
-The Best Mexican Recipes by America’s Test Kitchen
-From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients by Diana Kennedy (Very good on tamales)
-The Native Mexican Kitchen by Rachel Glueck and Noel Morales
-Salud: Vegan Mexican Cookbook: 150 Mouth Watering Recipes from Tamales to Churros by Eddie Garza
-Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless
-Puerto Rican Cuisine by Oswald Rivera
-Cuban Cooking by Michael Holtby
Smithsonian Online Latino Resources
I am sure I will find some more book treasures to add to this list for upcoming Latino Heritage Months.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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| Ruth Paget Photo |
