Reply to American Ethnicity - Is it possible to be ethnically American?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ethnicity IS culture, though.

(What else do people think it could be?)[/quote]

No, you're wrong.  Culture is a subset of ethnicity, but ethnicity incorporates not only culture, but shared history and ancestry.  I think there is a general American culture, plus regional cultures as someone mentioned (American south, Cajon/Creole, Midwestern, New England, West Coast, etc), but there is not American ancestry.  With European and African ancestry ranging back to before this became a nation, plus Asian ancestry added about halfway through our young history, there is no single unifying ancestry and history.  This nation was founded on a concept of the great American melting pot where we mixed many ancestries, cultures and social customs into one very diverse and oft-times fluid culture so that we do not have a standard ethnicity that you can label as distinctly American.[/quote]

Ethnicity is the category, but culture is the practice.

Do you (or your close family and friends and neighbors) watch American football? Do you eat cornbread or fluffy pancakes or buffalo wings or quesadillas? Do you cut your food with the side of your fork? Do you know the pledge of allegiance? Do you now or have you ever believed in American exceptionalism? Do you know how to tip in a restaurant and which drinks automatically get free refills?

These are all uniquely US American pieces of culture. Probably mostly invisible to people who grew up in the culture, but knowing how to be and do in this culture makes you ethnically American. You might *also* have another ethnicity that goes along with that (or even more than one).[/quote]

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