Your Ethnicity

[Logan]

I was just thinking about ethnicity and how it is interpreted. For example, I meet people from all walks of life and I always find it interesting what places/society they associate themselves with.

Americans, being so cosmopolitian, are generally very vocal and take great pride in their origins - the Irish in Boston comes to mind etc.

Within the martial arts world it is quite common to encounter the Western-who-so-desparately-wants-to-be-eastern type mentality.

What shines through no matter what the situation is the need for a connection, whether genetic origin, religious belief, or whatever. I guess ethnicity could be considered self-identity. In some of the above examples, I've met people who try to make a connection, no matter how absurd...

To open the matter for debate, do you think Martial artists could be interpreted as an ethnic group? Social? Family? Delusional? All of the above!???????

How do you define who you are and where you come from?

 

[CoryKS]

How do you define who you are and where you come from?

I define myself culturally. Ethnicity means very little; I'd rather be in the company of people who share my values than those who share my physical traits. I don't see martial artists as any kind of ethnicity or cultural group because, as this forum has proved, MAists don't necessarily share any one value or trait. Interest in one activity is a tenuous basis for connection.

 

[JBrainard]

To open the matter for debate, do you think Martial artists could be interpreted as an ethnic group? Social? Family? Delusional? All of the above!???????

Delusional, definitely delusional.

 

[tellner]

I am a proud Amphibian American, dedicated to stamping out Bufophobia

 

[Shaderon]

I think ethnic groups are starting to blur at the edges, those edges will get more and more blurred until eventually in many years to come (if the earth lasts that long) only the extreme die-hards will claim ethnic purity. Cultural groups are taking their place more and more, the internet has a lot to thank for this phenomanon, as people all over the world are brought together in a like-minded (or not) group that have a common denominator that matters so much more to them than their ethnic status, which in fact matters very little when you can't see the person you are talking to.

Everyone is delusional, not just us and not especially us martial artists, in classes we are like families but I would say we are most like a huge club, a social group who, even though we have differences in what we do, have a common denominator in MA as a whole and, indeed gravitate towards each other to chat about the differences and similarities whenever and whereever you might find us.

 

[Bigshadow]

How do you define who you are and where you come from?

American! With no hyphens. Family has been here since 1635.

 

[Zoran]

I define myself culturally.

Ethnicity is cultural, not racial or nationality. It can include a combination of geneology, religion, laguage, traditions, and etc.

For example, American is not an ethnic group as we are so culturally diverse. It would be considered a nationality.

Anyways, I am Serbian.

 

[Bigshadow]

Ethnicity is cultural, not racial or nationality. It can include a combination of geneology, religion, laguage, traditions, and etc.

For example, American is not an ethnic group as we are so culturally diverse. It would be considered a nationality.

Anyways, I am Serbian.

I know that.

 

[Dave Leverich]

Hehe, Dave, beat ya by 2 years!
*ducks and covers*

Ethnically? I like to think I'm all people, a complete melting pot. Those I _know_ of are English, Irish, Scottish and Portuguese. I'd been told Croatian, but never proven that, and Souix, again never proven that (or college would have been cheaper ;p).

How do I see myself? I'm everyman.

 

[Carol]

Euro-mutt

 

[Dave Leverich]

Apparently Oct 10, 1633 in New Hampshire... Wonder if our ancient relatives knew one another heh. Crazy stuff. (Kind of floors me to know mine was an actual pilgrim, silly hat and all lol). I tell you, the internet is crazy like that, found a cousin that we traced 8 generations back/forward in New Jersey, what's that like 48th cousins? ;p.

But yeah, Original Topic? I classify myself as human, no more no less.

 

[Xue Sheng]

To open the matter for debate, do you think Martial artists could be interpreted as an ethnic group? Social? Family? Delusional? All of the above!???????

How do you define who you are and where you come from?

I had this conversation with a lady from Germany about heritage and she thought it was rather funny that people in America when asked about their family they tend to start talking about their Irish, German, Italian, Scottish, etc. heritage and they tend NOT to identify themselves as Americans. Where in just about any country she has been to in Europe just says they are from Spain of France or Germany, etc. She chalked it up to the fact that as a country we are so new.

And if you talk to my Wife’s family they do not identify themselves as Chinese but Beijingren.

 

[CoryKS]

I had this conversation with a lady from Germany about heritage and she thought it was rather funny that people in America when asked about their family they tend to start talking about their Irish, German, Italian, Scottish, etc. heritage and they tend NOT to identify themselves as Americans. Where in just about any country she has been to in Europe just says they are from Spain of France or Germany, etc. She chalked it up to the fact that as a country we are so new.

And if you talk to my Wife’s family they do not identify themselves as Chinese but Beijingren.

In the Corps my friends and I used to laugh about the fact that when we were stateside we were White, Black, Spanish, or Korean but that once we reached Okinawa all of sudden we were Americans. As in, "No Americans Allowed" in certain bars.

 

[bushidomartialarts]

As I mentioned in another post, my ethnicity is "Brick", my family name.

I was raised with little concern for our varied northern European origins, and not terribly much for the generations we've spent in the USA. What was instilled in me from my earliest memory is pride in the family I'm a part of, and a responsibility to make sure I do right by the family name.

Part of this was learning enough history to know where we came from, how we got here -- I'm pretty well educated about my geneology and ethnic roots.
But mostly, I'm a Brick.

 

[Kacey]

Like Carol, if you are referring to where my ancestors lived, I am a Euro-mutt, with some Russian thrown in too - the countries I am aware of that my ancestors lived in include (but are almost certainly not limited to) England, Ireland, France, Germany, Bavaria, Russia and... um... my genealogy data is at home, I'd have to go look.

I am an American - and while I have no problem with people being proud of their origins, I am tired of the lumping together of certain groups as if they were all the same - for example, one of my neighbors is from the Bahamas, and is, in her own description, black - she is not African American; as far as she knows, she has no ancestors from Africa for at least the last 200 years - she is an American from the Bahamas. Another example: one of the teachers at my middle school is from Columbia, but he is constantly lumped in (ethnically speaking) with the general grouping "Hispanic", which, realistically, refers to people who originally came from Spain - and he's not; his ancestors are from South America. Both of them dislike this type of grouping, and prefer not to be labeled at all rather than mislabeled.

Perhaps if we quit labeling people by their origins, and instead labeled them by their accomplishments, choices, and so on, this would be a better world, and more cohesive, instead of the endless divisions caused by the hyphenated labels so common today.

 

[bluemtn]

Me? I have a lot of Irish ancestory from both sides, with some English and some Native American- been told Cherokee... Hard telling- family has been spread throughout the U.S...

Anyways- martial arts isn't a specific ethnicity or social or anything else. It's like here- a big melting pot, where everyone from all walks of life came to with visions, some with common visions and interests.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Delusional, definitely delusional.

And I that note I realized I did not say that I identify myself Social/Family/Delusional/All of the above or/pick one as a

"Megalomaniac Evil Wizard bent on world domination". :mst: :uhyeah:

 

[bookworm_cn317]

I'm mostly white ethnic: some Native American, some Irish, some French-Canadian, some English, some Italian (which I, personally, consider myself to be. I'm very family-oriented. Not to mention, I talk with my hands a lot.), and some Scottish.

 

[Touch Of Death]

I was just thinking about ethnicity and how it is interpreted. For example, I meet people from all walks of life and I always find it interesting what places/society they associate themselves with.

Americans, being so cosmopolitian, are generally very vocal and take great pride in their origins - the Irish in Boston comes to mind etc.

Within the martial arts world it is quite common to encounter the Western-who-so-desparately-wants-to-be-eastern type mentality.

What shines through no matter what the situation is the need for a connection, whether genetic origin, religious belief, or whatever. I guess ethnicity could be considered self-identity. In some of the above examples, I've met people who try to make a connection, no matter how absurd...

To open the matter for debate, do you think Martial artists could be interpreted as an ethnic group? Social? Family? Delusional? All of the above!???????

How do you define who you are and where you come from?

All the above fits.
Sean

 

[Touch Of Death]

Name a Scandinavian country and I have ancestors from there except Sweden... OF Course:ultracool
Sean