What Racial or Ethnic Group are you?

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Ethnicity: American
Race: Human

I see no use in being more specific than that.

My ex is big on genealogy. In fact I still have an Ancestrydotcom box I received as a gift from "my daughter" sitting unopened in my closet. I never really understood the need for people to know what their genealogy is. I mean, if I found out that I have a Scandanavian ancestry, should I start writing in runor?

I grew up an orphan. My own father never saw my face, and I spent the majority of my life knowing nothing about my background. I am not, by the way, unhappy about that, because it allowed me to be truly who and what I want to be.

However, when my lover bought me the Ancestry kit for my seventieth birthday, I enthusiastically spit in the little bottle and sent it off. Since then, I have met my half sister and two of her daughters, learned a great deal about my father and grandfather, and have discovered, though not connected with most of, 342 living relatives! Imagine going from nothing to all that! Pretty weird, really.

 

[Curious George]

Whatever their people called themselves before Europeans came over. Their tribal names and ethnic groups don't change just because white men decided to create a country on what was formally their land. Americans aren't Americans by blood. We're Americans by citizenship.

Irish aren't Irish by blood. The Celts replaced an indigenous people there.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Yeah, no. Talk about stretching things. "African" isn't an ethnicity, either, by the way.

Strange how when one Googles "ethnicity list," both African and American are on there. So is African American.

I guess you didn't write that one, huh?

 

[Spiderman]

German, Irish, and Swedish

 

[Stevicus]

I am Klingon.

 

[viole]

I was wondering what RF's Racial or Ethnic make-up was and whether it affected discussions on various topics. How far does our Racial or Ethnic background determine our beliefs and experiences? And do you believe that certain racial or ethnic groups can necessarily be classified by collective experiences of domination or oppression in shaping the outlook of its individual members? Do you define your nationality or cultural identity by your racial group?

As this thread will inevitably involve defining what these categories are, to speed up the process here are some definitions from Wikipedia to get you all warmed up;

An ethnic group or an ethnicity, is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, history, society, culture or nation. Ethnicity is usually an inherited status based on the society in which one lives. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language or dialect, symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art or physical appearance.

A race is a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct by society. First used to refer to speakers of a common language and then to denote national affiliations, by the 17th century the term race began to refer to physical (phenotypical) traits. Modern scholarship regards race as a social construct, that is, a symbolic identity created to establish some cultural meaning. While partially based on physical similarities within groups, race is not an inherent physical or biological quality.

I admittedly don't think about it that much, but I'm White-British/White-European. I think that I am "privileged" in a sense to have had the experience of living in a mainly white area and a society where white people control the levers of economic, political and cultural power. I realise that part of my identity is at least "inherited" from collective sources and draws on that historical blueprint of "White European civilisation" versus "everyone else". It's complicated by the fact I tend to resent ideas about "White Guilt" because I don't think Guilt can be a positive motivation for getting people to recognise and take responsibility for problems arising from race. I also tend to think attributing blame or responsibility to people based on the colour of their skin is counter-productive because we don't necessarily have the power to change everything and our character and responses to the situations that arise should matter in evaluating what role we play in a society based on racial inequalities. That being said, I do find it difficult talking about race and racism as a white guy, because of the danger of "lecturing" people who have experiences I don't share and may therefore reach legitimately different conclusions outside of the bubble of my own "white privilege".

How about you? Any thoughts or insights on the issue?

I am a typical Swede. That is: blonde, but eyed and white as snow. Which makes getting sun tanned, without getting red as a carrot in the process, virtually impossible.

And I do not believe there is such things as human races, with the possible exception of the ones we see at the Olympiads with Bolt and such.

Ciao

- viole

 

[sayak83]

I was wondering what RF's Racial or Ethnic make-up was and whether it affected discussions on various topics. How far does our Racial or Ethnic background determine our beliefs and experiences? And do you believe that certain racial or ethnic groups can necessarily be classified by collective experiences of domination or oppression in shaping the outlook of its individual members? Do you define your nationality or cultural identity by your racial group?

As this thread will inevitably involve defining what these categories are, to speed up the process here are some definitions from Wikipedia to get you all warmed up;

An ethnic group or an ethnicity, is a category of people who identify with each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, history, society, culture or nation. Ethnicity is usually an inherited status based on the society in which one lives. Membership of an ethnic group tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language or dialect, symbolic systems such as religion, mythology and ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art or physical appearance.

A race is a grouping of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into categories generally viewed as distinct by society. First used to refer to speakers of a common language and then to denote national affiliations, by the 17th century the term race began to refer to physical (phenotypical) traits. Modern scholarship regards race as a social construct, that is, a symbolic identity created to establish some cultural meaning. While partially based on physical similarities within groups, race is not an inherent physical or biological quality.

I admittedly don't think about it that much, but I'm White-British/White-European. I think that I am "privileged" in a sense to have had the experience of living in a mainly white area and a society where white people control the levers of economic, political and cultural power. I realise that part of my identity is at least "inherited" from collective sources and draws on that historical blueprint of "White European civilisation" versus "everyone else". It's complicated by the fact I tend to resent ideas about "White Guilt" because I don't think Guilt can be a positive motivation for getting people to recognise and take responsibility for problems arising from race. I also tend to think attributing blame or responsibility to people based on the colour of their skin is counter-productive because we don't necessarily have the power to change everything and our character and responses to the situations that arise should matter in evaluating what role we play in a society based on racial inequalities. That being said, I do find it difficult talking about race and racism as a white guy, because of the danger of "lecturing" people who have experiences I don't share and may therefore reach legitimately different conclusions outside of the bubble of my own "white privilege".

How about you? Any thoughts or insights on the issue?

South Asian.

 

[David1967]

I am Klingon.

I knew it!!

 

[Flame]

Lakota and Italian American.

 

[Cacotopia]

I'm a mongrel.

Native American + Whitey.

Whitey: Norwegian + German.

 

[Sammaiel]

Caucasian.
Celtic ancestors.

 

[shunyadragon]

Basically white Irish and 1/4 North German, and a bit of Neanderthal.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

British, French, German and .00000000000001% Cherokee.

Gotta put the cherokee on there. It's tradition.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I was using the definition presented in the OP.

But since you took that horse out of the barn, let's ride it...

I'm a third generation native born citizen. My daughter is a fourth. How many generations does it take before one's nationality becomes one's ethnicity?

I had a friend who is Philippine. Her father is military both sides Philippine. Her nationality or where she was born and raised is in America. (We have a lot of people from thousands of countries here), yet, her ethnicity is Philippine and she identifies with her ethnicity.

She is an American citizen and she refers to her ethnicity as Philippine. Unless you are Native American, there is no one ethnicity in the US. There are many ethnicities and most people are American citizens and that's the only reason why they are American is by citizenship.

Those of us who have no known roots and identify as American do so by culture not ethnicity. Americans have a culture and rightly defend it but if you asked us our race, we would say: African, eureopean, east Asia, west Asia, Russia and so forth.

Unless you are Native American, historically, America has no ethnicity. It's just a nationality title. Whether you identify with American culture depends more on how close you are to your roots if you know them rather than where you live on State.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Strange how when one Googles "ethnicity list," both African and American are on there. So is African American.

I guess you didn't write that one, huh?

Salix

This is ethnicity: the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.

We don't have a "common" nationality because there are so many people of different nationalities, the only way you are "culturally"
American is if you are born And raised here.

An American, by definition is: a native or citizen of the United States.

We have many ethnicities here, many languages, and many cultures. What makes one an american is if they are Native to America. Not an ethnicity but strict nationality.

Now. If you said you are African American, Asian American, Indian American, you are referring to a persons ethnicity in relation to their nationality either by citizenship or as a native here.

When you say "I'm American" you are saying you are 1. Have a citizenship here 2. And/or born and raised as a native here.

As for ethnicity, it depends on the persons cultural background not where they live on the map.

Your ethnicity can be Chinese but your nationality is American. You are considered American by where you hold citizenship or native born here, but your race and ethnicity is Chinese not American.

The only people who can call American their ethnicity are Native Americans. The rest of us our earliest family where nor from America.

Kinda like saying someone's ethnicity is European.

 

[Curious George]

Salix

This is ethnicity: the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.

We don't have a "common" nationality because there are so many people of different nationalities, the only way you are "culturally"
American is if you are born And raised here.

An American, by definition is: a native or citizen of the United States.

We have many ethnicities here, many languages, and many cultures. What makes one an american is if they are Native to America. Not an ethnicity but strict nationality.

Now. If you said you are African American, Asian American, Indian American, you are referring to a persons ethnicity in relation to their nationality either by citizenship or as a native here.

When you say "I'm American" you are saying you are 1. Have a citizenship here 2. And/or born and raised as a native here.

As for ethnicity, it depends on the persons cultural background not where they live on the map.

Your ethnicity can be Chinese but your nationality is American. You are considered American by where you hold citizenship or native born here, but your race and ethnicity is Chinese not American.

The only people who can call American their ethnicity are Native Americans. The rest of us our earliest family where nor from America.

Kinda like saying someone's ethnicity is European.

I disagree. I can think of no valid reason to deny that there is an American culture and someone could identify that as their ethnicity.

 

[Cooky]

My family has been in what is now the United States since my great grandfather Jaques Cortelyou came to New Amsterdam in 1650 as Surveyor General before it was New York.

I am pure European. From French to Dutch to Irish, to English, to just about everything European.

 

[Terese]

I'm Turkish, my parents are Turkish, though my grandparents on my mum's side were from Bulgaria, and their family lives in Turkey, and my grandparents from my father's side don't seem to know (AFAIK), and were given new last names when living in Turkey (which is currently mine as well)

 

[David1967]

Gotta put the cherokee on there. It's tradition.

Its not completely fictitious. My grandfather really was a quarter Cherokee, but I'm adopted so the blood is not there. I was able to track down my biological parents is how I found out my true heritage.

 

[Sunstone]

Mostly English on my mother's side. Mostly German on my father's side. English side came to America in the 1620s. German side came to America in the 1850s.

There's a nice story about my father's side. In 1848, an ancestor was walking though a park in Berlin when he overheard a man standing on a box rant about the government. Fascinated, he listened to him. When the man stepped down, he took his place and started ranting about the government himself.

A few days later, he discovered he was wanted by the Prussian secret police.

So he fled to France. Unemployed, he joined the French Foreign Legion and got a job as a medical orderly.

After two years of that, he got tired of it. So he convinced his commanding officer, the doctor, to sign a medical discharge for him. Once free, he went to America.