questions on heritage.

[rengadeirishman]

do you think that people born in america who call themselves "Irish" or "Italian" etc. etc. should not do so?

My opinion is that America is so ethnically and culturally diverse that it's understandable for americans to be concerned with ethnic roots as a way to have some sense of history and belonging.

but of course, i was born in america (though i have in fact been to ireland) so my opinion would of course be biased.

thoughts?

 

[christabelll]

I am an American


'nuff said







but I love my celtic roots, teutonic size, and native instincts

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Well, as I'm fond of saying to my black friends, THEYRE NO MORE AFRICAN THAN I'M IRISH.

My Scottish ancestors had the right idea: WE IDENTIFY WITH OUR CLAN OR TRIBE.

I can trace my lineage back to the pharoahs, Philip of Macedonia, the Julian emperors of Rome, and the first Russian czars. Even Brian Boruna. But I dont think of me as Egyptian, Russian, Greek, Roman, or Irish. My last Irish immigrant ancestor listed his nativity as Great Britain. And my aristocratic Irish ancestors did not identify with the sod kickers of Tara.

 

[rengadeirishman]

reasonable responses, thank you.

 

[lesbiaphrodite]

I call myself an American, though my roots go back to Scotland on my Mum's side of the family and England on my Dad's. I've often found that I share some "traits" that have loosely been defined as "Scottish," but, in general, it's not how I identify.

I identify first as a southerner, second as an American, and last as a misanthrope.

 

[Stella_Omega]

There's no "should" about it-- people will.
"American" is way too huge a group for comfort, for most of us. We want smaller tribes-- we divide and subdivide every sort of grouping; schools and political affiliations, neighborhoods, dietary preferences, fer crissake!

It's charming, at its best...

 

[driphoney]

reasonable responses, thank you.

In honor of my ancesters I learned the ignore feature just this morning (just read one asinine comment too many.) You might want to give it a test drive too!

I think there's nothing wrong with being a hyphenated American. It all works itself out.

 

[oggbashan]

I was born in Wales. That made me eligible to compete as a Welshman in sport but in no other respect was I Welsh.

I went to Gibraltar and Australia to live. As a registered resident that made me eligible, consecutively, to compete as a Gibraltarian and then an Australian. My then passports showed me as resident with no restrictions.

I returned to the UK, to London. My current passport shows me as a British UK Citizen resident in the UK - which I had always been, although I did consider becoming an Australian.

My ancestors? Paternal side were Londoners, specifically CITY of London, from 1326 to 1916 when they were bombed out by a Zeppelin. Before 1326 they had come from Suffolk. Maternal ancestors came from an area of Suffolk (about 20 miles from paternal roots) to London in the early 19th Century. There are some ancestors, generally not on my direct line, who came from other parts of England and I had a Welsh great-grandmother who claimed to trace her ancestory back to the Welsh equivalent of Noah who survived the Flood on top of Mount Snowdon.

Generally I consider myself British but sometimes English, sometimes Welsh, and sometimes a Londoner from the City of London - the last because my father, mother, brother, uncles, aunts etc were all Freemen of the City of London.

Although there is a tartan for my maternal ancestors' surname, none of the ancestors I have traced so far had any connection to Scotland so I won't be seen wearing a kilt.

Og

PS. My relations spread all over the world. There are people I recognise as relations living in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Brazil, Hong Kong, Malaysia etc...

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Father's family is from Italy. Mother's emigrated in the 1690's to N. America. Some First Nation elders have stated that anyone whose ancestors have been on the continent that long qualify as Native American!

I am, I guess, Italian by temperment and dietary preferences, Californian by attitude and American to the core. Go figure.

 

[rengadeirishman]

There's no "should" about it-- people will.
"American" is way too huge a group for comfort, for most of us. We want smaller tribes-- we divide and subdivide every sort of grouping; schools and political affiliations, neighborhoods, dietary preferences, fer crissake!

It's charming, at its best...

Thats essentially how i feel. America is too diverse for there to really be an "American" ethnicity (native americans excepted of course), and i think people, generally, have a need for an "ethnic" background to feel belonging.

I think that human beings are basically tribal creatures, thus creating that need.

I consider myself american by nationality, but ethnically irish.

 

[Liar]

I was born, raised and live in Sweden. My parents are Swedish. I have, at least, seventeen generations of roots in this country. Likely more.

Am I "Swedish"? Not very. It's a state of mind, and I'm not into that.

 

[rengadeirishman]

I was born, raised and live in Sweden. My parents are Swedish. I have, at least, seventeen generations of roots in this country. Likely more.

Am I "Swedish"? Not very. It's a state of mind, and I'm not into that.

what do you consider to be swedish? i am honestly curious, and i know that my question might come across in type as hostile, so i am sorry if it strikes you in that way.

 

[freshface]

I'm living in the same part of Germany as some of my German ancestors. It's interesting seeing where they came from and getting a little clarity on some of the old family stories, but I've never felt as American as I do living here.

I've also lived in almost all of the different parts of the US, with the exception of New England. There are food variations and some cultural differences, but scratch the surface and I've found Americans everywhere I've lived.

 

[Belegon]

I'm proud of both my ethnic and my ethical ancestry. I am ethnically Scottish, by one measure, but like most I have multiple other ethnic influences.

If I were a dog, I would be called a mutt. Again, like most of us, I suspect.

Ethically, I consider myself a child of Paine, Jefferson, John Stuart Mill.

I consider myself to be American in other ways. By citizenship, by birth, by ideals. Paradoxically, I also have a belief that nationalism in general provokes more bad behavior than good.

In other words, I am proud to be an American but also feel that identifying as American (or German, or Egyptian, or Spanish, or any other nationalistic identifier) does more harm than good in the big picture.

If we all identified as human, wouldn't that be better?

Like most philosophical subjects, answers to this question create more questions.

 

[impressive]

I identify as deviant.

 

[midwestyankee]

Like President Obama, though not quite so obviously, I'm a mutt. Both my parents are first-generation Americans whose parents came from different parts of Canada. Generations before that, ancestors came from various hilly and ocean-side portions of Europe - too many to consider myself mostly any one thing.

That said, I tend to identify most closely with the ethnic group that provided my last name. On that basis, I'm a French-Canadian American.

 

[sadangel]

Like President Obama, though not quite so obviously, I'm a mutt. Both my parents are first-generation Americans whose parents came from different parts of Canada. Generations before that, ancestors came from various hilly and ocean-side portions of Europe - too many to consider myself mostly any one thing.

That said, I tend to identify most closely with the ethnic group that provided my last name. On that basis, I'm a French-Canadian American.

I'm an American. I can trace my roots or ancestry to several Native American Tribes, to German and English ancestors. (Native American in me: Cherokee, Cheyanne, Wyndot and Blackfoot) I admit I don't feel I identify with any one part of my heritiage.

But I'm just a plain American Mutt. I've got the papers to prove it.

 

[sutherngent985]

Im a southern american not presently living in the south. My ancestry is german-irish. So as someone said previously, Im southern, then american then german-irish.

 

[Liar]

what do you consider to be swedish? i am honestly curious, and i know that my question might come across in type as hostile, so i am sorry if it strikes you in that way.

pretty difficult to put into words. It's not a particular set of characteristics or a formal ethnicity. But if you identify yourself as something, that's what you are. Nationalism has something to do with it, but not in the traditional sense of the word. I don't consider this country my home. My city is my home, and it happens to be in Sweden, but outside of that I feel as much as a foreigner in another city as I do in England, or Italy, or America.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

My ethnicities are English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, German, Russian, Spanish, Northern Native American, and probably some other smaller percentages from other areas of the world.

However, I am fourth or fifth generation New Jersey, USA

 

[DesertPirate]

I'm an American with Irish, Scots, Welsh, Dutch, German, and a tint of French, roots

On my Dads side we go pre Revolution. Mostly in NC but some in VA and SC.
Moms were Pennsylvania Dutch.
Yes I had ancestors on both sides in the Civil war.
Some of my wifes people were neighbors of Jefferson in VA.
Our daughters qualify for DAR from both sides.

 

[_Lynn_]

I'm Dutch -- I can't trace it, nor have I cared to, but both sides are from the Netherlands, a generation or two back.

 

[DeeZire]

Considering that the new Americans killed off most of the original Americans, I would think referring to ones foreign ancestry would be prudent.

Another consideration: it won't be long before Caucasians are the minority race in this country, which would make the contemporary "American" moniker seem a little quaint.

I suspect the term "American" will metamorph into something signifying "mongrel" or "pig", considering our blatant disregard for living sustainably. I shudder to imagine what this country will be like once we've exhausted our natural resources in pursuit of the antiquated American Dream. Fortunately, I won't be around when that day comes.

So, if I could afford it, I'd send my ashes to Scotland, but they probably wouldn't want them.

(I'd change my name to Buzzkiller, but this thread's been quiet for hours now...)

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DEE ZIRE

Wrong.

We'll become like Spain most likely. Spain absorbed many ethnic/racial groups, and Spaniards are white. In a generation or two blacks will be extinct in America.

 

[rengadeirishman]

i think that perhaps in a few centuries, america will be homogenized enough for there to be an "american" ethnicity. Many countries in europe as JbJ said, have absorbed numerous types of people, but it took centuries to do.

i don't think that a generation or two will be enough however.