American Ethnicity - Is it possible to be ethnically American?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I'd agree with that. Southern is definitely an ethnicity. They have a unique language, food, attitude, cuisine, religion.... Maybe there's no one American ethnicity but many American ethnicities. Yankee might be another. California is a culture of its own. Texas, need I say more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My ancestors are English, and French, and Scottish, and Dutch, but they've all been here long enough that none of the original traditions remain."

Do you speak English, moron?

Language is not a tradition.

Whether you call is traditions or language or ethnicity, the traditions do remain, from religion to language, from Chrismas Carols to Halloween, fairy tales to colloquialisms to nursery rhymes and lullabys. We are steeped in those traditions.

My ancestors from England were pilgrims, they would have been horrified by Christmas Carols. Santa Claus didn't really exist at the time they emigrated. And Halloween, at least the way we celebrate it here, is a pretty uniquely American thing.

I'm not saying that England didn't contribute to my family traditions, of course it did. But not because my particular ancestors brought it over. The traditions and practices I celebrate are a mix of things brought over by my ancestors, things brought over by other cultures and appropriated here (Santa Claus, Spaghetti) and things that developed here.

[Anonymous]

The last immigrant in my family tree arrived in America sometime around the early 1800s. And there are lots of others who arrived when it was just "The New World", not America at all.

And I still don't think there is an "American" ethnicity. My background is northern European. It's really, really far back, but it's still my roots.

Just out of curiosity, I looked up "list of ethnicities" on wikipedia (bulletproof cite, I know): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_ethnic_groups. There are lots of Something-Americans, but no "American". According to this, I guess I'd be Anglo-Franco-Germanic.

[Anonymous]

I think we need to agree what "ethnicity" is. The way some people are using it is how I would define nationality or culture. I think of ethnicity as bloodlines, not traditions/culture.

Also keep in mind that the continent consists of Canada, the US, and South America.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there are ethnic groups that have evolved and developed in this country, and are distinct from others of the same ancestry in their home countries. I'm in that category. My ancestors are English, and French, and Scottish, and Dutch, but they've all been here long enough that none of the original traditions remain. My friend's ancestors came over as slaves, probably from several different African nations, with some Native American and white ancestors mixed in, their family culture however, is African American, a heritage/ethnicity that's unique to this country. Cajuns in Louisiana, are another example of a group with a distinct culture unique to the U.S..

So, I'd consider all these groups to have an American ethnic identity. However, of all of them, the WASPy ones like me are the only ones with enough privilege to claim that they are "the" American ethnicity or "just" American or "real" American, as opposed to simply one of a variety of wonderful American cultural groups.

The French were not WASPs. They were Catholic. And Americans of Hispanic ancestry predate us and will soon be 24% of our population. You conveniently erased the contribution of other old groups like blacks or cajuns by observing that they evolved. So did WASPs here, which is why you are more likely to listen to R&B based music than bluegrass, for example. And it is why by your own admission that your family has dropped its original traditions. So it is very difficult to see how one group of immigrants, who evolves, is less "American" than another group that arrived at the same time, dropped its own traditions, and adopted a different language. I get that you might not consider Italian Americans like me to be "Real Americans" in the sense that you are using the term. But I don't think you really understand your colonial history very well.

America has an English / French political tradition. It has a very mixed early cultural tradition, which continues to this day.

[Anonymous]

BTW I said that last comment as an Italian American.

[Anonymous]

Op here, I think there is also a ranking of sorts when it comes to admitting ethnicity in the USA. As someone mentioned earlier, this varies by region.

[Anonymous]

As a High School teacher of Human Geography and World Geography, it's bizarre to read all of the posts about ethnicity.
At least, however, you're talking about ethnicity instead of race, since race doesn't scientifically exist, but does exist for political purposes.
Keep up the dialogue about ethnicity. You're only wrong when you begin to force ethnicity on someone else.
Choose your ethnicity and enjoy it and all that comes with it!

[Anonymous]

From: the Good shepherd:

"Joseph Palmi: Let me ask you something... we Italians, we got our families, and we got the church; the Irish, they have the homeland, Jews their tradition; even the niggers, they got their music. What about you people, Mr. Wilson, what do you have?

Edward Wilson: The United States of America. The rest of you are just visiting."

I guess edward wilson is the 'ethnic american'. Blue Blood WASP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Even the native americans came from somewhere else first.

But, we ALL came from somewhere else.... Human history is a history of migration. We're all African.

I guess the question is, how long does it take for a population to acquire its own ethnic identity? Not sure that's even possible nowadays because, what population evolves in isolation, giving a distinct ethnicity an opportunity to develop?

Op here, good question.

Iceland?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you go anywhere outside the U.S. there is no question.

You're American.

American nationality, of course. What about ethnicity?

Op here, I have the same question about this. I suppose people would view you as American by nationality but do other countries consider American both nationality and ethnicity?

Yes--if you identify as, say, Italian-American and you go to the UK and tell people you are Italian, it won't make sense to them. You're American. American is an ethnicity in the sense that it involves a shared set of cultural practices (like Thanksgiving) and beliefs.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous
Just out of curiosity, I looked up "list of ethnicities" on wikipedia (bulletproof cite, I know): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_ethnic_groups. There are lots of Something-Americans, but no "American". According to this, I guess I'd be Anglo-Franco-Germanic.

That's exactly the problem! Now, suppose one of your kids marries an Italian-American, and then a grandchild marries a Japanese-American, what is your great-grandchild's ethnicity? If your family has been here for three hundred years or more, how do you know the ethnicity of every ancestor? If you identify as, say, Irish-American, that's one thing, but if you don't, what does it matter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I honestly don't think so, unless you're referring to Native American ancestry. Everyone else is a descendent of an immigrant and their ethnicity comes from elsewhere.

Yep, mainstream white culture is primarily Anglo-American.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My ancestors are English, and French, and Scottish, and Dutch, but they've all been here long enough that none of the original traditions remain."

Do you speak English, moron?

Language is not a tradition.

DP here. Tell that to the Arabs - language is central to their ethnicity.

[Anonymous]

This question is bizarre and really reaching.

It seems like many people who have ancestors that immigrated here but do not have any connection with their ancestry now, want a way to validate themselves.
An official "new" title, clean slate and all.

Would this apply to the Chinese immigrants that immigrated in the 1800s? Would you be okay with them labeling themselves as ethnically American? What about the Indians (South Asian) that immigrated here over 100 years ago?

Or would this only apply to those that are of European ancestry, aka white skin, but it's too inconvenient to remember from which countries?

Would you be the same ethnicity as Mexicans and Canadians?

What if a white skinned American whose ancestors came here long ago married a first generation or second generation person of any ancestry? What would the child be?

Is this stemming from feelings of inadequacy? I recall from the "Miss America" thread some were upset saying that the winner was not American or American enough. But she was born here so is American. But now would it be a question of whether she is "ethnically American" or not??

Seems like seeking for an "ethnic American" definition is looking for a reason to feel superior against other Americans that you deem not American enough for your liking. This would open up all kinds of new ways to discriminate.... is that what your going for?