To be confused about my partner's nationality

[ForestryForever]

Good evening,
My partner's parents were both born in Wales. They both lived and grew up in Wales. As adults they both left Wales and lived in England, where they remained.
Whilst married and living in England, they had a baby - my partner. My partner was born, raised in and grew up in England, and still lives in England.
What nationality is my partner?

I would say Welsh just because of the argument that's been used here previously... if my English parents had me in China and I grew up there, I wouldn't call myself Chinese. I'd consider myself English and China was my place of birth.

However calling him half Welsh/half English was wrong as neither of his parents are English so I can understand him being a bit miffed about that (although it does sounds like an overreaction)

I would say he is Welsh because both his parents are Welsh, and primarily because that is the country he identifies with.

I was born in another country with a Scottish mother and English father, I lived there for several years but then lived in England from the age of 12 onwards. I would describe myself as half Scottish and half English, but my loyalties are with England when it comes to things like footy matches.

You need to understand English behaviour in wales to get why this is a sore topic. They had people
Beat children in school (welsh not)
for speaking their native language (welsh). There should be a lot more understanding and appreciation for cultures that are not English in the United Kingdom (because otherwise the claim
to be United is a farce). If you can’t understand why your partner does not want to be called British (or English) I suggest you listen to his reasons instead of looking to randomers on the internet to back you up on an indefensible position.

The country you are born in.

That's why many Americans consider themselves Italian American or Irish American.

Born in the States but identify with their heritage

"In common use, ethnicity is used as a euphemism for the sensitive term race, but with identical meaning: group ancestry and physical characteristics, such as skin color, as in “ethnic Chinese”."

Perhaps you would like to tell us all what race you think you have to be to be Welsh?

He's English but can play football or rugby for Wales;)

Of course Welsh is an ethnicity, by any definition of that term. Are you completely mad?

Well it is and it isn't. Am I Welsh if I am born in Wales? But what if my parents are , say, Nigerian and arrived in Wales the week before? Am I Welsh or am I not Welsh?

What if I was born in Wales, lived my whole life in Wales, speak Welsh, have a Welsh wife and Welsh children, and my parents were also born in Wales...but their parents were from China? I'm not ethnically Welsh...but am I not Welsh?

On the other hand, I could be the grandchild of Welsh people whose heritage is Welsh for a millenia, but I've never been there in my life and know nothing about it...am I Welsh?

Well, since you're the very strange person who found a quotation (and didn't bother to link your source) calling ethnicity a euphemism for race, how about you tell me? It really is quite surreal to watch people who apparently think they're fighting on the side of the angels while denying the very existence of certain ethnic groups. To do it to the Welsh, whose language and culture was largely destroyed by colonialism, is particularly vicious.

Look at his passport, it'll say British.

My Mum's English, my Dad's Welsh. Me and my brother were both born in England, but grew up in Wales. I've spent my adult life in Wales while he spent his in England, yet if you ask us, I'm English and he's Welsh. Except when the rugby's on, then I'm Welsh too.

At the end of the day, it affects nothing as we're all citizens of the UK rather than an individual sub country, so it's just what your husband identifies with more.

Obviously he's full Welsh
Imagine he was born in Spain, would that make him Spanish?

It’s what people
have to tell themselves to justifiy all the things that were done to the other countries in the union. The meaning of the word Welsh as well in old English meant foreigner. So how can you turn around now and claim it’s all the same? Wales and cotland and Ireland had their resources plundered, their people
beaten for speaking their own language and now they’re supposed to identify with the culture who did that to them. Really?

Faulty comparison.
JL was born in British India, didnt grow up there.ypur partner was born in England and raised thete.
JL is fond of her birth country, your partner getting angry and shouty about being called English shows he does not like the country he was born and raised into.

He can identify as Welsh but he is not like JL.

Beggars belief then that you’d take the word of strangers online over the words of a person you claim
to care about. But here we are. He’ll be better off without her.

How on earth is it a clue? If he's got a passport it'll have 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' on it, won't it?

It's what he identifies as himself first and foremost.

In this case, I'd say English.

If you apply this kind of tortuous game to humanity you'll discover quickly enough that there's no such thing as ethnicity, no such thing as nations, no such thing as populations. We can just abolish a whole raft of international laws on genocide, yay! This is critical theory at its logical conclusion. It attempts to deconstruct all categories (gender anyone?) and in doing so produces total barbarism. Because it is nothing short of barbaric to define an ethnic group out of existence like this, particularly one that's had its culture and language squashed by a more powerful neighbour. And I know you're not playing this game with Tibetans.

How on earth can you say he's 'half' something???

Nope. You're the one saying that Welsh is a race, please let us know what race you have to be to be Welsh. What colour does a true Welsh person have to be?

And by the way, when the words are blue, that means you can click on them.

I’m half Scottish because my dad is Scottish, I’ve only been up there a few times but it’s still a part of my identity culture and heritage.
One of my best friends dads is from Jamaica and I doubt anyone would be telling them they can’t identify as half Jamaican even though they’ve never been over there.
Legally we are both British and have British passports.
I was hoping Scotland would rejoin the eu so I could get a European passport but it’s looking less likely.
We we are half’s on account of our fathers place of birth and culture I don’t see why ops partner can’t call himself Welsh based on the same criteria.

I agree that's part of it. But there's a broader ideological current here that's attempting to deconstruct all categories and it attacks ethnicity, or nationality, the same way it attacks gender, or sexual orientation, or ability, or anything else. Then there's the deconstruction of ethnicity that's necessary to deal with the consequences of historically unprecedented mass immigration policies.

If you apply this kind of tortuous game to humanity you'll discover quickly enough that there's no such thing as ethnicity, no such thing as nations, no such thing as populations. We can just abolish a whole raft of international laws on genocide, yay! This is critical theory at its logical conclusion. It attempts to deconstruct all categories (gender anyone?) and in doing so produces total barbarism. Because it is nothing short of barbaric to define an ethnic group out of existence like this, particularly one that's had its culture and language squashed by a more powerful neighbour. And I know you're not playing this game with Tibetans

I hardly think pointing out the obvious fact that ethnicity and nationality can be but are not actually inextricable leads to abolishing the laws on genocide and arguing about Tibet, and I don't think you think that either.

You can't argue that I don't have a valid point. It's not torturous. You can be born in Britain and not be British. You can be Welsh and ethnically Chinese.
These facts don't invalidate any claim to Welsh ethnicity.

How about you stop the hysterical rambling and engage with the (really not at all problematic) point?

He's Welsh.

English with Welsh heritage.

DD is mixed race. She is half white british, half black british but with Jamaican heritage on her fathers side..

My friend is currently on the plane from the US. His mother is British born and bred, move to the US with her then brand new Iranian husband. Their son is US born and bred but holds three passports! I can understand the confusion.