Hoot Posted October 6, 2013 Share Posted October 6, 2013 I completely understand someone having a strong connection to a culture that is fairly recent in the family or that is still remembered through food, religion, customs, festivals.... But I don't have a feel for why distant ethnicity is important to people. I'm not being critical - I just don't understand it. I am much like you, ancestry means nothing to me. It doesn't matter that I'm part Blackfoot Indian and part... whatever else. I just don't care. I also don't care who my great-great-great-great-great grandparents were, where they were from and how they died. It's just not relevant to me and my life. It seems to baffle people like my husband that these things are not important to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ficbot Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 My parents were born here. All my grandparents except one were born here, and that one died young and tragically so tends to be a bit mythologized in our family. I suppose for that reason, her ethnicity (Polish) is what I say if people ask me where my family is from 'originally.' But I don't really identify as Polish. My SO is Polish through and through though. All four grandparents were Polish, they all immigrated here as Holocaust survivors after the war, his last name is Polish and he and his cousins all identify as being of Polish ancestry even though they were born here. He is very grateful to our country for taking in his refugee grandparents and giving them a second chance at life, but he feels very strongly too that the next generation know the story of how we came to be here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripley Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 My ethnicity is very near, dear and familiar so I read this thread with great interest. My ex-husband immigrated as a baby, so his ethnicity is still near and familiar also. I wonder if this is how it will be for my children and their children, as our descendants become farther removed from our respective ethnicities. I can't explain why but I hope at least one descendant is "into" the distant ethnic influence I brought to the family tree - I guess I feel like it connects the generations, however distant. It could be the rogue gene for green eyes or the stereotypical fiery temper or the appreciation for and heavy-handed use of garlic and onions ... that tie to a distant ethnicity is the common thread in an otherwise enormous and seemingly unrelated fabric. It's the tendril that latches us securely into a place on the family tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMomof4 Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 I haven't read through the whole thread. I do think family history is fascinating and I love researching my ancestry. Just a thought here - in England how long after the battle of Hastings did it take for the distinction between Norman and Saxon to fade? I would imagine that even 200 year later there were still distinctions made. Not to mention differences between Britons and Saxons, etc. It may seem more homogeneous now, but its been almost 1000 years. How long has it been since Scotland was independant? When I was in England several years ago my bus driver was pretty rabid about NOT being English - he was from Scotland, not England and ne'er the twain shall meet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 7, 2013 Author Share Posted October 7, 2013 I haven't read through the whole thread. I do think family history is fascinating and I love researching my ancestry. Just a thought here - in England how long after the battle of Hastings did it take for the distinction between Norman and Saxon to fade? I would imagine that even 200 year later there were still distinctions made. Not to mention differences between Britons and Saxons, etc. It may seem more homogeneous now, but its been almost 1000 years. How long has it been since Scotland was independant? When I was in England several years ago my bus driver was pretty rabid about NOT being English - he was from Scotland, not England and ne'er the twain shall meet! The mixing of Norman and Anglo-Saxon language happened fairly fast, because the Norman children had Anglo-Saxon nannies. The mixing of populations took a lot longer. Your Scottish bus driver was definitely not English, (a Texan does not come from Colorado) but the question was: did he consider himself British? I think that local culture is, for most people in Britain, more important than long-ago ethnicity. One of my best friends is from Liverpool. That's much more salient than that his mother is of Irish-Catholic stock and his father's family was originally Scottish. It's Liverpool that is his identity. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted October 7, 2013 Share Posted October 7, 2013 The mixing of Norman and Anglo-Saxon language happened fairly fast, because the Norman children had Anglo-Saxon nannies. The mixing of populations took a lot longer. Your Scottish bus driver was definitely not English, (a Texan does not come from Colorado) but the question was: did he consider himself British? I think that local culture is, for most people in Britain, more important than long-ago ethnicity. One of my best friends is from Liverpool. That's much more salient than that his mother is of Irish-Catholic stock and his father's family was originally Scottish. It's Liverpool that is his identity. L And that explains my English friend who was born in Bolton to Scottish parents and my English babysitter born in Barnsley to Welsh parents. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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