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How do Ethnicity, Ancestry and Identity Intersect?

I was reading that people from European countries among others(maybe also Japanese or any other country with a strong ethnic identity) find it silly when Americans of long ago Scottish, Irish, Italian ancestry visit their countries and claim to be proud Scots or Irish or Italian.

There were many debates about why Americans consider ancestry so important to identity but people forget that not long ago almost every else did as well and some outside of America still do.
[b]What are your thoughts on ancestry determining identity and its affect on ethnicity?[/b] Is it silly?
My group African American is in a different boat. We have a separate culture within America culture yet different from the mainstream American culture never having existed in another country. Totally born of the new world.
QueenandCrown · 41-45, F
The more I study genetics the more I'm getting out of the racial identity. Race is a social construct. Race was introduced by Europeans to classify people from different cultural backgrounds. It was a system they use to try to scientifically prove that outside cultures were beneath them.


Now how do I identify myself?

As a human.
REMsleep · 41-45, F
@Temporallube Well I didn't meantion it but I was previously in agreement with both of you a few years ago. After doing more reading I changed my mind back.
The real answer is so multidimensional that I can no longer confidently state that race is only a social construct. Yea maybe biologically there are no races.

What I mean is that our perception of race usually reflects ancestry.
Ancestry reflects many things which we attribute to race so thats what I mean
QueenandCrown · 41-45, F
@REMsleep I can understand your points. And though I didn't mention it I used to feel the same way as you do about race. I thought race was very much biological and define who we are as peoples until I started studying the history of how race was introduced.
REMsleep · 41-45, F
@QueenandCrown You guys are great. Great conversation. No need to agree to exchange ideas.
SW-User
I find it all very fascinating. Some of that is tied to a fascination with history (both the wonderful things and the horrible things we humans have committed). It all shapes who we are, who we are becoming. Our ancestors, and our descendants, are all part of that. Sometimes it's infuriating and scary. Sometimes it's super cool. It's like the ultimate slow-motion movie, playing itself out over the decades and centuries and millennia. Even better, it's one in which we protagonists can make choices that influence the plot. A giant choose-your-own adventure story.
SW-User
I think it's interesting to know where you've come from, but I'm not sure how much it affects your identity. I can trace my ancestors back to 1600s and all came from a few counties surrounding where I grew up. There is one that came from Wales and possibly one from The Netherlands, but I don't feel any connection to either country.
REMsleep · 41-45, F
@wildbill83 Unfortunately due to the history of the United States having many groups immigrating to the country in rapid succession and not being 100% fully excepted as equal, this created the need for a different cultural identity how could a marginalised American feel truly American when he or she was not given access to being a 100% fully recognised American in society?
Do you feel that why when people describe themselves as Irish or Italian American?
Both groups have a proud history here.
wildbill83 · 36-40, M
@REMsleep I'm proud of my ancestry too, but I don't go around calling myself a Viking-German-Scottish-Cherokee-American...

I find it ironic that many of people who consider themselves to be "progressives" are hyphenated Americans...

they're living in the past...move on or get out... If they don't know where their allegiance lies, they certainly don't belong here...
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Justenjoyit · 56-60, M
Actually I find the whole roots back to Europe thing quite amusing as a European living in Europe. It's like they have not accepted that they are Americans.
REMsleep · 41-45, F
@Justenjoyit I have always watched alot of British TV so I think I do understand but its not like that here.
But, I also follow some black British Youtubers and they state that it's not all problem free in racial matters but its also not half as bad as the USA in most ways.
You guys have anti Muslim issues right now.

Here in the US we say that we are all the same, peace, love blah, blah but the people don't think that way.
In 1968 many states were still not allowing blacks to vote. Just think about this. Those people are still alive in mass numbers.
Justenjoyit · 56-60, M
@REMsleep I think the anti Muslim culture is maybe to do with all of the terrorist bombs killing innocent people in Europe, so people are scared.
QueenandCrown · 41-45, F
@Justenjoyit Maybe it doesn't come into conversation with who you're speaking with but I know brown people from the UK and they say often they face discrimination especially from the police.
Back in the 1950s a white American man did an experiment where he changed his physical skin and dress to that of a brown person. As a white man he could not possibly know how brown people feel or is treated so he decided to see for himself.
After that experiment he realized not everybody felt or was treated the same as he did as a white man.
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REMsleep · 41-45, F
@CopperCicada Thanks for your response.
I enjoyed hearing your thoughts. I feel an intense need to always honor my ancestors and carry on tradition and I always have since I was 7 or 8 I began recording family history.
Maybe because Im black and so much was lost or maybe because I was born a very old soul.

I see an Irish American not as an Irish person but as an Irish American person with a distinctive but related identity to the Irish. Same for German and whatnot.
Its not how many ties that you have to that other country which makes you more or less German American or Irish American.

 
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