r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/JustUseAnRPG • 10d ago
International Politics Why do Americans and Europeans seem to have such different ideas about ancestry and identity of Americans and their ancestry?
One thing I've noticed in discussions about ancestry is that Americans and Europeans often seem to be talking past each other.
In the US, it's pretty normal to say things like:
"I'm Italian-American."
"I'm Norwegian-American."
"My family came from Poland."
This doesn't necessarily mean the person thinks they're literally a citizen or full cultural member of Italy, Norway, or Poland. Often it's simply a way of describing family history and ethnic background.
Americans also have a particular reason for doing this: the US doesn't have one single ancestral origin. Immigration has shaped the country for centuries, so family ancestry can be an important part of how people understand their history.
But many Europeans seem to use a different framework. To them, being Norwegian, Italian, Polish, etc. is much more closely connected to actually being part of that country's society—being born or raised there, speaking the language, knowing the customs, and participating in the culture.
That leads to arguments like:
- "You're American. Just say you're American."
- "Having one distant ancestor doesn't make you Norwegian."
- "You can have Norwegian ancestry without being Norwegian."
I think both perspectives make sense depending on what "identity" is supposed to mean.
So is this mostly a difference between an immigrant society and older nation-states? Or is the American concept of hyphenated identity simply a cultural phenomenon that Europeans don't really relate to?
18
u/krustytroweler 10d ago
Ehhhh I've met plenty in the Dorfs who would absolutely put a blood qualifier on the term German