I chose the word “Latinoamerica” even if it doesn’t really exist in English because it’s the word use in Latinoamerica to refer to Latinoamerica, that is Mexico, Central, South America and the Caribbean. I dislike Latin-America because the association with other such dashed terms (Asian-American, African-American) implies someone who is an “American” (as the term is used in the United States to identify its citizens) but who was roots somewhere else. If ethnic terminology in the U.S. followed logic, Latin-American would be used to refer to second+ generation Latinos.
On the other hand, I use American to refer to anybody from any region of the Americas (not just U.S.A.)
Native American refers to indigenous tribes of the Americas (not just North America). I have no problem with “indigenous” (indígena) or “American Indian” either, only with “Indian” which I would only use to relate to India.
Sometimes I want to refer specifically and only to certain regions of the Americas. Thus “Hispanic Caribbean” or Hispanoamerica refer to the countries in the Caribbean for the first term, or Mexico, Central, and South America for the second term, that were colonized by Spain. The prefix Ibero- refers to both Spain and Portugal.
Just to be picky, I also often include regions of the U.S., such as California, Texas and New Mexico, in which Hispanic cultural elements about when referring to Hispanoamerican culture, in the same manner in which South Florida and New York are immensely Caribbean. After all, Salsa which has come to be the ultimate representation of Latinidad (Spanish for Latin-ness) or Caribbean music, was born and bred in New York, which doesn’t make it anyless of a Latin cultural expression.
Finally, although I recognize the cultural difference between the Hispanic Caribbean countries (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Dominican Republic) and the rest of the Caribbean, Brittish, French, and Dutch, as well as the fact that many people of the Caribbean would not identify as Latinos, I chose to focus on the similarities for the sake of this exploration of music and dance. I often state "Latin and Caribbean," even if it is redundant according to my own definition of Latin, to emphasize this. On the other hand,when referring to the unique Caribbean culture (versus South American, or Mexican, for example), I include Belize, as well as the Caribbean coasts and island of all the mainland countries that surround the Caribbean (from the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, to the Honduran island of Roatan, to the citiy of Barranquilla in Colombia, and the Caribbean coast of Venezuela).
