Ohio State students reflect on their cultures and identities during Hispanic Heritage Month

Karyme Arroyo-Flores (left) and Mariana Ramos-Andújar (right) participate with the Puerto Rican Student Association for the “Taste of Latin America” event Sept. 9. Credit: Courtesy of Mariana Ramos-Andujar

Reflecting on Hispanic Heritage Month, Ohio State students within the community have shared their experiences and how their cultures have shaped who they are. 

Lasting from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, Hispanic Heritage Month is a period that celebrates and highlights different cultures, traditions and ethnicities within the Hispanic community, according to the Department of Latinx Studies’ website. September also celebrates Latinx Heritage Month, and though people use the two terms interchangeably, they represent different groups of people, said Mariana Ramos-Andujar, vice president of the Puerto Rican Student Association and a fourth-year in computer engineering. 

Ramos-Andujar said the term “Hispanic” refers to people from Spanish-speaking countries, whereas “Latinx” is a gender-neutral form of the words “Latino” or “Latina” and refers to people from Latin American countries.

Josie Juarez, a Mexican American and a second-year in political science, said the diversity created by the intersection of identities in Hispanic and Latinx cultures is sometimes overlooked.

“I feel like, sometimes, we like to put labels on it and make it seem like it’s just one ethnic group,” Juarez said. “I want to show that it’s a really diverse thing, that we can come in all races and all sizes, and that we’re not just one specific thing.”

Juarez said these cultural differences allow individuals to be shaped by their specific heritage, especially since many Hispanic and Latinx individuals, respectively, rely heavily on their community for a sense of identity.

“My culture has definitely been incorporated into who I am, so it can be a weird thing to see myself without it,” Juarez said. “In a way, it’s just me. It’s involved with how I speak, with how I dress — it’s how I express myself.”

Ramos-Andujar said some communities within the Hispanic bubble have a smaller presence in Columbus, which can lead to feelings of cultural isolation — something she experienced when she first came to Ohio State’s campus. 

“I realized that here in Columbus there’s not a lot of Puerto Rican stores or any Puerto Rican supermarket,” Ramos-Andujar said. “I’m from Cleveland, and in Cleveland, there’s a lot bigger population of Puerto Ricans. In Columbus, there wasn’t really a lot.”

Ramos-Andujar said a large portion of her on-campus community was formed when she joined the Puerto Rican Student Association. 

“It really means a lot to me, being a part of the club,” Ramos-Andujar said. “I get to work closely with a lot of the Puerto Rican population here since it’s a small population, so I pretty much know all of them. We meet outside of campus for events — just like, get dinner, we have cookouts at each other’s houses and events like that.”

Ohio State also highlighted Hispanic Heritage Month, with various departments and organizations hosting events such as the Latin American Music Celebration, the Latin American Film Festival and the “Nuestro Buckeye Dinner,” according to an email from Indra Leyva Cook, associate director for Belonging and Student Support within the university’s Center for Belonging and Social Change. 

Ramos-Andujar said hosting these events not only allows those within the Hispanic and Latinx communities to celebrate the month, but also permits other individuals to experience the distinct beauty that cultures outside of their own have to offer. 

“We might be a small community, and we might not be the majority in the U.S. or Ohio State, but we’re here,” Ramos-Andujar said. “I want people to just walk away with more understanding of the diversity [that] being Latino and Hispanic actually represent[s].”