| At a time when the growing Hispanic/Latinola population in the United States is of increasing importance, my dissertation aims to offer a metaphysical account of what it is to have an ethnic identity. I begin with an examination of the account of Hispanic Latino/a Identity offered by Jorge Gracia. After presenting my own account of Hispanic Latino/a Identity, which is more reflective of subtle historical changes than Gracia's, I examine the extent to which social ontological accounts can make sense of Hispanic Latino/a Identity and, more broadly, ethnic identity. In particular, I take up the work of the three most important analytic philosophers working on social ontology: Margaret Gilbert, Ian Hacking, and John Searle. Although the positions of Gilbert, Hacking, and Searle all provide some resources for examining ethnic identity, I argue that ultimately each of these accounts is inadequate. Resisting the temptation to provide a one-size-fits-all metaphysics, I argue that what is needed is not a new general account of social ontology, but a social ontology of ethnic identity. Looking at the case of Hispanic/Latino/a Identity as a key example and making use of some of the insights of Gilbert, Hacking, and Searle, I present my own social ontological account of ethnic identity. On the account of ethnic identity that I present, which I refer to as the historical recognition theory of ethnic identity, six criteria contribute to the formation of an individual's ethnic identity: (1) the extent to which the individual identifies him/herself as a member of a historical group, (2) the identification of the individual as a member of a group by outsiders who do not belong to the group, (3) the ability to recognize and be recognized by members of the group, (4) the ability to share common projects with the members of the group, (5) the performance of cultural acts as a way of living or creating one's ethnic identity, and (6) the individual's degree of biological connection to parents and grandparents who were/are members of the ethnic group. |
