To wonder when Americans lose their roots

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Curious to know (especially from US Mumsnetters) but when do Americans stop referring to themselves as having heritage from where their forefathers came from?

Whenever I read a bio on someone famous reference is often made to their roots - so for example German, French, Scots, Irish, French, etc..

Along with a fair number of people I have heritage stretching back to different cultures/places but after a few generations I would not refer to myself as Irish or French and it wouldn't tend to crop up anywhere outside of genealogy

Is there a reason they do it so much in the USA or am I mistaken in that assumption?

I always thought it was quite nice. I’m Scottish and have met quite a few Scottish Americans with a great somebody from Scotland. Canadians too. I’ve always felt I’m quite boring as Scottish with the odd person from Northern Ireland on family tree for hundreds of years.

I do think it’s a boon to Scottish tourism / exports.

😆😆😆

Try being a regular old American and being told that this land isn’t yours even though your family has been there generations, fought and died for it. Then being told (usually by the very same people) that some illegal migrant who arrived last year is just as American as you.

They just hate us and never attempted to hide it.

I dont really understand this. I think you are arguing that it's okay for US citizens to have two identities but then you are wanting to gatekeep the American part for only yourselves? Maybe we are at too much of a tangent and I don't know which are your previous posts so I apologise if this is wrong.

Just factually, the island I'm talking about is liberal in it's politics and welcomes people especially as they need seasonal workers. There are many, many incomers and 'white settlers' but they will never be locals. If everyone respects each others true identities as they are in the moment and not there ancestry then they all get along fine.

Maybe this has hit on something. Maybe it's the US's very entrenched conservatism that causes their ideas about the importance of heritage. Politically we are further to the left in the UK if you discount all the recent stirring up of fear and right wing reactionary attitudes.

Sorry to be pedantic but it wasn’t a “new” world it was already inhabited by indigenous peoples - up to 10 million in N.America alone. I don’t know why white colonial America persists with this narrative.

Texas rebelled against centralised Mexican rule when it brought it policies such as a ban slavery and immigration changes - the immigrants along the Texan Mexico border were mostly illegal, and not particularly inclined to adapt to Mexican culture, and many had slaves who made up around 15% of their then population, which they didn’t want to give up.

The state of California itself was founded on indigenous genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced labour by carried out by soldiers and settlers following the defeat of Mexican forces & the gold rush. The native population decimated from ~ 150,000 > ~ 15,000 in 50 years 1850-1900.

I just remember staying in a hotel in Mallaig in preparation for taking the ferry to North Uist the next day. A US citizen from the next table (also on holiday) proceeded to tell us about all his ancestors in the cemetery in North Uist (fair enough). He then started to complain bitterly about all the "tourists" and their camper vans going to the island. No sense of irony at all! It did tickle us.

I dont think there is distain. Many, particularly rural, Norwegians have very clear pictures of their family trees going back generations. There is however a certain level of bemusement. Particularly when people identify very strongly with one particular ancestor or line whilst apparrently just ignoring the rest.

Joe Biden to the BBC - "I'm Irish". What the fuck are you the US president then?!

Well Donald Trump keeps banging on about being Scottish 🙄 - pretty sure most Scots would disown him!

Well, try being a Native American.. whose land it was for up to 30,000 years..

The foundation of America was basically lebensraum for predominantly European immigrants. And that’s fine but don’t pretend it’s anything else.

The principle on which it was founded was that once you’re in America you become American - which applies equally to recent and older immigrants.

So on the one hand everyone in America is American - on the other - presumably people would understand if Jewish Americans or Asian Americans, for example, kept in touch with, or a memory of their roots and culture.

Historically, tribes always kept their genealogies - ie a narrative of their people and where they came from. It’s part of the human need to know or form a history and identity.

Its very patriarchal idea really. Lots of people seem to focus on the direct male line, I guess because often you do carry thier surname, but all those other great-relations are equal and its amazing how many there are.

I think it feels over romanticised to British people because while Americans are keen to highlight if they’re Scottish-American, or Irish-American, you don’t get so many saying they’re English-American. Or German-American even. The highlighting of cultural heritage is much stronger when there’s a “marginalised” feel to it, but not when the culture is seen as the oppressor. It feels very pick and choose. If there’s this thing where everyone is proud of their heritage, why aren’t all the very many English-Americans always talking about it?

Question for anyone who knows about this stuff - do Australians and New Zealanders identify so strongly with their cultural heritage?

Maybe I'm wrong, but while an interest in your ancestry is very common, claiming it as an identity seems to be very much an American thing.

I lived in the US for some years, in a German American city. Despite German identity having been suppressed during WW1 (closure of German-language newspapers etc.), it still affected the culture/character of the place, from the obvious - surnames, Oktoberfest, a German-language public school - to the less obvious - the number of Catholic schools, the strong tradition of choral/classical music/opera performance.
Americans understand the difference between being eg a German national and a German-American.

I have no issue with anyone cherishing their heritage although given the dilution that would take place over hundreds of years I think its bizarre. Even the likes of Ancestry only go back 7 generations.

If your ancestry was from centuries ago you are simply American not Scottish American and its laughable to claim otherwise.

Were any of them Black, or mixed race? If so the name would probably be of their ancestor's owner.

Surnames are usually passed by the male line and at times was passed from a Master to an apprentice when they completed their apprenticeship. Hence so many Smiths, Jones, Taylors etc.

I wonder how many of them were actually decedents?

I did a DNA test, I am so boring, mine was basically a couple of circles one inside the other in West Yorkshire and another couple in Ireland.

That fits with my ancestry as far as I know. Then there is a tiny bit from Finland.

I would not describe myself as Irish or Irish-British though. It's part of my family's history but it isn't part of my identity.

My partner is American with German heritage. He doesn't call himself German-American or anything. I think their obsession with heritage is embarrassing. My grandparents are Irish and came over to England. Can you imagine if I said I was Irish English? lol.

Actually, I was in conversation with an American and he told me that in his opinion a ""whatever hyphen American" isn´t a real American, a real American is an American full stop", so he fully agreed with you.

So my many times great grandfather, whose surname I have, also emigrated from from Hebrides in 18something, to Nova Scotia. Generations of my dad’s family lived in the same place until he married my mum in the 60s and moved to the UK, where I was born a bit later. While I’ll admit I have an interest in Gaelic culture (my user name gives that away), it’s mainly from a language geek point of view, and I certainly don’t consider myself to be Scottish. My maternal grandmother was from Glasgow. I still don’t think that makes me Scottish.

Native Americans were never a unified people, never saw themselves as a unified people and only held small territories which changed hands constantly. Some of them were not even very related by the way.

Sorry no, you don’t get to sneer.

The OP solicited these comments. The woman didn’t impose herself on you. We’ve been through it. Scottish-Americans and Scots are very different people who bifurcated 300 years ago. How can you tell her what her identity is supposed to be? Have you lived the American experience for generations?

She's allowed to call herself whatever she wants, but we're also allowed to think it's silly 🤷‍♀️

I am well aware. I am not sitting in judgment of history or judging people who lived hundreds of years ago by current standards, knowing how it all ended. I am pointing out that the Scottish pioneers/colonists/settlers who came to America were extremely brave and effective people. There is still a bit of that “get it done” attitude in their progeny.

By the way, I am not Scottish-American. No dog in this fight for me. Scottish people today could take more than a little pride in their diaspora- or you could tut and be snooty. Whatever floats your boat.

When I was a visiting student liaison at an Irish university I dealt every year with upset Junior Year Abroad American visiting students who showed up in my office puzzled, weepy or angry that Irish students just saw them as foreigners when they saw themselves as Irish. Some of them had also literally never heard US foreign policy publicly criticised, and were dealing with a major loss of innocence on several fronts…

I think its interesting rather than silly.

Ive often wondered why it appears so much on american people's biography info.

But if the communities have distinct characteristics, schools and traditions that people grow up with, it make much more sense.