"I'm Irish American"

[MacMahon]

I've noticed that to many Americans their Irish, Scots, Italian etc. roots are a big part of their current identity. As a nation of immigrants in a New World I can see why this link to earlier generations is interesting and important.

But it's also something I find confusing.

I live in Yorkshire. I'm English. I have Irish ancestors on both side (great grandparents and great x2 grandparents). If I was in America this would quite possibly be a big deal. I'd be an Irish American and identify with the struggles and persecution that my people suffered at the hands of the English. But I wasn't born in America, I was born in Leeds, and my Irish ancestry play zero role in my identity.

I'm on an ancestry group and Americans are getting that DNA test done and finding out that, contrary to family lore that they are Cherokee or Mexican or Italian Americans, they're actually pretty much 'just' 100% British.

It makes me wonder how authentic this celebrating or identifying with their Irish/First Nations/Italian roots is, and how much is just (mistaken) tribalism and division.

Yes, that was unfair of me. Canada is a lovely country with a very interesting history. I actually love Canada, and I have traveled its entire length on a number of visits. Not only that, I have Canadian heritage! My great-grandmother was a grand lady of Ottawa and I have many Canadian relatives. If you have not been there, it is hard to imagine the grandness of the Canadian landscape. But what I have learned from the Canadian people I have spoken to and from what I have learned is that being Canadian is different from being British and it's different from being American, even though it shares features of both.

I think it's often rooted in racism and not wanting to be associated with some countries, especially the Eastern Block. They certainly don't want to be associated with Communism or as they confuse the two, socialism. There's a pride that borders on white supremacy.

Both Canadians and Americans are, except for Native Americans, diasporic people. We are people who came here from somewhere else. Usually because trauma uprooted our ancestors. It's hard not to be somewhere and think, "how did I get here?" when it is not the continent where your ancestors came from. There is a sense of geographic dislocation that does not go away. And yet, this is the way it has always been for humans. They move to new places. This is why we have brains. To figure this out. And that is why we think about our ancestors. What was it like for this Huguenot who escaped in a barrel in the 1600s? For that Jew who got a visa in Hamburg in 1938? For that Irish girl who held her dead little sister in steerage in 1846 on that boat to Boston? For that Ukrainian farmer who dreamed of having his own wheat fields in Manitoba? For that black child in chains being stared at like property on a hot Savannah day? How did they all survive long enough to make us? It is really a miracle that all of these people made these vast geographic leaps across continents. Maybe people who come from America and Canada feel intrigued by their roots because these were people who really took a grand leap, or because they endured, and both of those things are acts of love and courage.

I think it is harder to have a distinct sense of what being Canadian is than it is to be an American is, though, for several reasons. Canada is divided by two cultures. French Canadians and Anglo Canadians do not have the same ideas about what Canada is or should be. Canada is also still way too tied to the UK for it to be truly independent in its identity. As I said before, it has a foreign queen on its stamps. Why should it have the British monarch on its stamps--especially when it has such a large French population which has been oppressed under British rule? They are also very influenced by the US. Most Canadians live right next to our border. They are influenced by our media, they shop in our stores, they rely on our military, etc. How could this not be true, they have a tiny population and we have a huge one. Right now, Canada is famous for being nice and liberal, but they haven't figured out how to deal with their deep historic divisions. They're just kicking these troubles down the road. Canada will not have a truly independent identity until they can figure out who they really are.

Canada is also still way too tied to the UK for it to be truly independent in its identity. As I said before, it has a foreign queen on its stamps. Why should it have the British monarch on its stamps

Canada doesn’t have just the British monarch on its stamps. It has the Canadian monarch. She is their head of state. If you were asking “why is she still their head of state” that’s a valid question (although I still don’t think it means Canadians don’t have an independent identity), but if you’re asking about stamps, she’s on them because she is their queen.

Maybe by talking about a ‘foreign monarch’ @PrincessNutella means Canadians have the Australian monarch on the stamps?

Giving the benefit of the doubt, because it couldn’t possibly be that she feels Canada’s history only started after sovereignty and its previous history became Someone Else’s?

Some people are obsessive about their roots, others are interested as others are interested in genealogy. It is a conversation opener and perhaps a form of guilt or pride. Guilt as in survivor-guilt or pride that they achieved what they achieved.
I was born in Britain, my parents in Jamaica. I'm interested in their life in Jamaica. DD is not. Prior to that someone got a one way trip across the Atlantic from Africa. I don't know where in Africa, but not as interested in that as Jamaica. My choice.

Should we all gaze wistfully at the Euphrates or Ethiopia?