AHANA Defined
"We are More Than Just an Acronym"
The AHANA Concept
1979年，两个学生阿尔弗雷德·费利西亚诺和瓦莱丽·刘易斯创造了AHANA这个术语. These students, acting as ambassador for fellow student, 反对当时大学使用的“少数族裔项目办公室”的名称, citing the definition of the word minority as “less than.他们建议使用“AHANA”一词，他们认为这是为了庆祝我们社会中存在的文化差异. AHANA is an acronym used to describe individuals of African, Hispanic, Asian and Native American descent.
在获得大学董事会的压倒性批准后, 少数民族学生项目办公室成为AHANA学生项目办公室(OASP). Today, OASP develops, implements, 并提供了各种各样的项目和服务，这些项目和服务都是模仿耶稣会的个人关怀传统, (care of the whole person), that support students’ social, cultural, and spiritual development.
AHANA Defined
AHANA一词用于描述非洲人、西班牙人、亚洲人和美洲原住民后裔. 下面简要介绍了缩略词中包含的组. Bear in mind, however, AHANA学生项目办公室欢迎所有学生利用我们提供的项目和服务.
African-: Africans in America and all peoples of the African diaspora
Hispanic: Peoples of Latin-American or Spanish descent
Usage Note: Though often used interchangeably in American English, Hispanic and Latino are not identical terms, and in certain contexts the choice between them can be significant. Hispanic, from the Latin word for “Spain,” has the broader reference, 有可能涵盖两个半球所有说西班牙语的人，并强调有时在其他方面几乎没有共同点的社区之间的语言共同点. 拉丁裔在西班牙语中的意思是“拉丁的”，但作为一个英语单词，它可能是西班牙语单词latinoamericano的缩写，更专门指拉丁美洲裔的人或社区. Of the two, only Hispanic can be used in referring to Spain and its history and culture; a native of Spain residing in the United States is a Hispanic, not a Latino, 在这个短语中，我们不能用拉美裔对墨西哥本土文化的影响来代替拉丁裔，而不会混淆其含义. In practice, however, 当提到美国居民时，这种区别就没有什么意义了, 他们中的大多数是拉丁美洲人，理论上可以用任何一个词来称呼.
- 一个更重要的区别是拉丁裔和西班牙裔在美国用法中出现的社会政治裂痕. For a certain segment of the Spanish-speaking population, 拉丁裔是一种种族自豪感，而西班牙裔则是一种近乎冒犯的标签. According to this view, Hispanic lacks the authenticity and cultural resonance of Latino, 它的西班牙语发音以及在用于女性时显示拉丁女性形式的能力. Furthermore, Hispanic the term used by the U.S. 据说，人口普查局和其他政府机构都带有盎格鲁机构的印记，与西班牙语社区的担忧相去甚远. While these views are strongly held by some, they are by no means universal, 这种用法上的划分似乎与地理和政治都有关系, 拉丁美洲人在加利福尼亚被广泛使用，而西班牙人在佛罗里达和德克萨斯更常用. Even in these regions, however, usage is often mixed, 在同一作者或演讲者中使用这两个术语并不罕见.
Asian: A native or inhabitant of Asia or a person of Asian descent.
Usage Note: 亚洲是世界上最大的大洲，人口占世界人口的一半以上. Though strictly speaking all of its inhabitants are Asians, 实际上，这个词几乎完全适用于东方各国人民, Southeast, and South Asia as opposed to those of Southwest Asia such as Arabs, Turks, Iranians, and Kurds who are more usually designated Middle or Near Easterners. Indonesians and Filipinos are properly termed Asian, 因为他们的岛屿群被认为是亚洲大陆的一部分, but not the Melanesians, Micronesians, and Polynesians of the central and southern Pacific, who are now often referred to collectively as Pacific Islanders.
Native American: A member of any of the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere. 科学家们普遍认为，美洲原住民的祖先是在冰川期晚期的某个时候通过白令海峡从亚洲进入美洲的.
Usage Note: 许多美国人开始更喜欢“美洲原住民”而不是“印第安人”，这既是一种尊重，也是对地理上困惑的哥伦布对美洲人民的著名误称的一种纠正. There are solid arguments for this preference. 印第安人消除了印第安人和印度居民之间的任何混淆, making it the clear choice in many official contexts. It is also historically accurate, 尽管有些人坚持认为印第安人并不比其他任何人更土生土长，因为他们的祖先被认为是从亚洲移民到这里的. 但是native的一种意思是“成为某一特定地方的原始居民的一员”,美洲原住民声称自己是美洲的原始居民，这是不容质疑的.
- Accuracy and precision aside, however, 这两个术语之间的选择通常是一个原则问题. For many, Native American is the only choice for expressing respect toward America's indigenous peoples; Indian is seen as wrong and offensive. For others, 前者带有官僚主义和出于政治目的操纵语言的味道，而后者是自然的英语术语, its inaptness made irrelevant by long use. Fortunately, this controversy appears to have subsided somewhat in recent years, 现在，在同一篇文章中，这两个术语互换使用是很常见的. 此外，在这个问题上，印度人和非印度人之间从来没有特别的分歧. While generally welcoming the respectful tone of Native American, 大多数印度作家继续使用旧的名字，至少和新名字一样频繁.
- 当提到加拿大和阿拉斯加的土著居民时，美洲原住民和印第安人并不是完全等同的. Native American, the broader term, is properly used of all such peoples, 而印第安人习惯上被用来指北方的阿萨巴斯坎人和阿尔冈琴人，与爱斯基摩人形成对比, Inuits, and Aleuts. Alaska Native(或不太常用的Native Alaskan)也适用于所有居住在阿拉斯加的土著居民.
The above definitions include information retrieved at www.dictionary.com.