Raceless

[nazinji]

For all Intense Purposes I Consider Myself 'Mixed' or 'Raceless'.

When I read other EAN'ers posts I feel in comparison I have a much weaker link to any cultural heritage.

I was wondering if there are other members who feel the same way?

I did not spend my time divided between countrys. I am an only child raised by a single parent. I did not grow up with anything that resembles a Family (on either side). I realise this is unusual in itself but It probably contributed to how I view my racial heritage and race in general (though there are many experiences along the way that have helped form my perceptions).

I don't associate myself with either of my 'sides'. nor do I, in any strong way consider myself 'british', maybe a Londonist, an urbanite but not british.

So basically, Is there any body who has a similar view to me? Not talking about upbringing, Just the extent to which you associate with any culture or 'race' in your Genetics.

[david]

Can a single child white American boy feel the same way as you by calling himself ‘Raceless’ or 'Mixed'?


ie. an only child white boy who grew up in America who feels zero affinity for his white roots (he doesn’t even know what they are!). Is he therefore ‘Raceless’?


Hence one of just several of my reasoning that ‘Eurasian’ is a race if people are so quick to call ‘White’ or ‘Asian’ a race (there is an old massive thread for that topic so I don’t want to hijack this thread with that old chestnut)


Otherwise in answer to your question I rate my Eurasian race over and above that of being British in terms of importance although the latter has more practical importance in terms of paper work etc. And strictly speaking I don’t associate myself totally with ‘either side’ because I am not those sides wholly. I am Eurasian. And proud of it! ;D

[nazinji]

^
I was unsure of how to word my post and what to include. I Put the bit about family as an example of my reason for percieving others to be more intact with a mixture of specific cultures. Simlar to including the fact I did not travel. I probaly didn't need to metion being an only child. The 'other stuff' was largely due to growing up in a multicultural environment, witnessing both humanity and conflict.

When I first found this site I thought of it as bringing me closer to my asian side, that didn't last long. I have more intrest in Self and world than any specific culture. although I would add I take a level of interest in my heritage.

Also, I *hate* all that 'Eurasian Pride' BS that was around a few years ago.

[david]

Where was this 'Eurasian Pride' thing? You can't possibly be talking about the UK?

[david]

^Yes, totally agree about the 1st Gen EA / 2nd Gen EA comment. And regardless of what nationality you are, most people judge you first on your physical appearance. The judgement then gets more refined by your personality when people get to know you as a person.


Basically what unites (or separates) people in order of decreasing importance:

Ideology > Race/physical appearance > Nationality

[nazinji]

david said:

Where was this 'Eurasian Pride' thing? You can't possibly be talking about the UK?

I was talking about when I found places like EAN, there were all these EA pride things, maybe It was less widespread than I thought b/c I didn't post, just browsed. I mean the general attitude of superiorly. *man, were so great - b/c were EA*

---

Like others that post here I'm seen as ambiguous. This thread was less about classification than the extent to which you identify with your cultural heritage.

[graydog]

Here is a parallel to the situation (at least I think it is.).

First of all, being British and feeling British are two different things. If you are a British citizen then you are British, period. My son is a US citizen. His Mom is Indonesian. Although my son can directly relate to Indonesia where he has been for the last five years (he is 5 years old), he knows that he is a US citizen and knows the US flag and so on.

Now here is the parallel (I think):

Lets say a person was raised in Tacoma, Washington and then moved to Orlando, Florida at the age of 23. Then 32 years later while visiting Chicago, someone asks where he is from. Do you think it likely he will answer "Tacoma"?

My bet he will say Orlando.

Well I was born in Tacoma. My people come from Missouri but I've been living in Jakarta, Indonesia for the last 31 years. I work in West Africa and when people ask me where I'm from, I answer "Jakarta, Indonesia". You should see and hear the responses I get. I mean, what am I supposed to say??? Beats me!!

In most cases they will come back (after the initial reaction) and start asking me things about the USA. How should I know, I just said.....!

Summary time: One should honor the flag of the nation they are a citizen of. It is not necessary to approve of the political party presently in power, but do honor your flag.

Knowing your heritage is very important but will probably not alter your life in too many ways. Meaning: you will probably live your life the way you will whether you know your heritage or not.

By knowing your heritage you are honoring your ancestors from all sides.

I've used the word "honor" in two different situations here because it is important. That and self pride (not vain pride) together help build strength of character.

I THINK I'm still on the thread line here.....

Anyway, NEXT!!

Later,

[thea]

Nazinji said, "...nor do I, in any strong way consider myself 'british', maybe a Londonist, an urbanite but not british. "

Interesting statement since I have similar feelings regarding my "nationality" vs. either race/ethnicity and city or state of birth.
Even though I am an American citizen by birth (born in the the states), I feel more of an affinity to being a San Franciscan, or a Bay Area local. If I go elsewhere in the U.S. where there isn't a large "minority" population, (There are numerically more Asians in S.F. than whites and blacks.) I feel like a fish out of water.

[داود]

thea said:

Even though I am an American citizen by birth (born in the the states), I feel more of an affinity to being a San Franciscan, or a Bay Area local. If I go elsewhere in the U.S. where there isn't a large "minority" population, (There are numerically more Asians in S.F. than whites and blacks.) I feel like a fish out of water.

I wonder whether I would feel any different if I lived in places with larger Black, Asian or Latino population. I am not one of them anyway, so probably it would make no difference for me.

[Aiko]

I am a geographical Eurasian and both of my parents come from a long line of mixed people. I don't really lean particularly strongly towards any of my ethnicities because I was raised in quite a few places in Asia and here in the U.S. I consider myself Asian, but mixed-Asian to be exact. I do consider myself to have a race and that is Asian but what's more important than my race is nationality. Therefore I am an American of Asian descent. Over the past few years, I've grown tired of the whole race issue. I think people put too much emphasis on it sometimes. And the assumptions that come with it are even more annoying. "You are ________, you must be _______." Your identity has more to do with your upbringing than your race. A Korean girl who is brought up by white American parents is very much an American, like her parents.

[londongirl]

If this makes sense, I consider myself British as my nationality, sephardic jewish (moroccan) as my religion and part of my ethnicity, and Brazilian Japanese as another part of my ethnicity. I tried to explain this in my who am I? presentation in sociology in march. Luckily my school is majority non-white (pakistani and bangladeshi) so the kids actually understood having two or more identities/nationalities!

[Altan]

^^^Your from the UK. It was funny I was reading a book about Afganistan five years ago, by I think a Lord Kindross. English and racial profiling and at the beginning of the book he lumped the Afghans with Southern Europeans, North Africans, Turks, Jews and Arabs. Must be pretty intolerant over there and proably many double standards. Of course Darwin and Science comes from there also and modernity. But I can say the same of my country, where many of the people especially in the South think the Old and New Testament was basically written and given by God in English.

About my race I'm of course Eurasian/Avrasyan.

[magpie]

Ok....now I'm a little confused. Being British is a race? That means I must be mixed too, since I'm French, German, English, and welsh. Where I live, British is considered a nationality/heritage and not a race. On the forms for race they have caucasian, black, Eskimo/American Indian/Native American, and Asian/Pacific Islander and sometimes Hispanic. I agree with another poster that people just go by what race you look more like. My son is considered caucasian; eventhough, he is Eurasian. So far he takes pride in all his heritage and being a U.S. citizen. Occationally he does have a problem with the Chinese part, but I always explain to him that there is good in a nationality and you can't judge a nationality by a certain set of people and their behaviors.

[eanotaa]

Interesting post and discussion here.

I'm a 5th generation EA dating back to a Chinese-Spanish marriage in the Phillippines during the early to mid-19th century. The subequent marriages were either between EAs or EAs+Irish-Americans (with the exception of my dad). I call myself an EA American, but I often consider myself to be a Filipino-Scot since those nationalities are the freshest off the boat. But I don't consider myself to be special than anybody because of my heritage. Hell, I interest strangers about my hertiage for maybe five minutes tops during a conversation.

The notion of "racelessness" is exactly what so many fear about "mixed-race" people - the "mixed" show people that they are not mutants, but human beings who happen to have ethnic heritages from different corners of the planet.

I'm curious about how multiculturalism fits in America whose mainstream culture has long been about escaping and then forgetting the Old World.

[cinnamoroll]

I wouldn't say I'm raceless because I can't really deny my E and A heritage as you can see it on my face - but I could say that I'm nationalityless (yes, I just made that up ) I don't feel Dutch, Singaporean or French - just human lol. I'm not patriotic b/c I don't feel like I belong to any nationality.. so yeah