5. Which factors should define your ethnic identity?

a) Government policy?
b) Blood
c) Culture, language and religion?
d) Personal will?
e) Diet?


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testing Question 5
<1234abc>
- Tuesday, October 14, 1997 at 18:09:45 (CST)

Question 5 is now working. Please feel free to respond. Thanks everyone Ahasiw

- Tuesday, October 14, 1997 at 18:10:44 (CST)

This is a complex issue. The idea that government policy defines ethnic identity strikes me as deeply problematic -- after all, whose government(s) are we talking about? The Immigrant (white/Anglo) U.S. and Canadian governments already have too much authority in terms of defining the lives and opportunities of indigenous people, which is also why I have problems with treaty status as the final word in issues of inclusion/exclusion. As for blood -- if a person is ancestrally descended from a particular group (First Nations, Mexican, black, whatever) but has no knowledge of or connection to that culture, then is he or she part of that cultural group? I honestly don't know (and would appreciate hearing other people's responses). Culture, language, relgion -- all of these are important factors in terms of how people live out their identities, how they define themselves. Ties to family -- traditions -- the language one hears as a child and the songs and stories one learns -- all of these are significant elements, but what about the fact that so many First Nations people have been forcibly assimilated into dominant culture in ways that have made it difficult for them to maintain their language and other distinctive practices? As for personal will as the determining factor in establishing identity, from one point of view that's great -- people of mixed blood who negotiate between different cultural/ethnic allegiances should have the right to decide how they want to be positioned. But if personal will is the determining factor, does that open the door to appropriation for the "wannabes" -- people playing out their imperialist nostalgia by claiming inclusion in a group as a way to escape from white guilt? And what about people who are visually marked -- by skin color or other aspects of appearance -- that they don't have a choice about how they want to identify, since people immediately place labels on them because of the way they look which may or may not be in accord with how they would wish to be perceived? Ideally, if we take Gomez-Pena's paradigm of the Fourth World, recognizing that all identity is hybridized, interconnected -- that there are no more "pure" boundaries -- and if we can REALIZE this not just as a utopian vision, but as a political reality... these issues will be less divisive.
<Sister Nivedita>
- Friday, October 24, 1997 at 13:18:53 (CST)

None..............
<S. Acoose>
- Tuesday, October 28, 1997 at 14:41:33 (CST)

Hairdo. Choice of soap operas. Diet, definitely. Musical preferences. I.Q. Body odor. Teeth. Independent US government and INS inspectors can, after extended observation, administer the proper objective scientific tests the results of which, after being passed through the super computers, can determine the subject's ethnic identiy.
<borcilar@pilot.msu.edu>
- Saturday, November 08, 1997 at 11:44:46 (CST)

personal will ... which I interpret as self-identification.

- Thursday, November 13, 1997 at 15:54:41 (CST)

blood

- Wednesday, November 19, 1997 at 20:19:41 (CST)

What we all need to remember is that definitions are merely words describing other words. We could all decide that ethnicity is determined by the number of hairs people have on their elbows and that would be fine because we would still ultimately be whatever it is that we've turned out to be. In other words, language is so much language. We use it to give definition to ourselves, but in the end what is the importance of that definition. I understand that there are power issues involved in all of this, but ethnicity--mine being some strange mix of Polish, Hungarian, Prison Farm, Irish, and Maine--only how we decide to name it.
<roliver@wam.umd.edu>
- Sunday, November 30, 1997 at 19:18:47 (CST)

Diet? Blood. Music. Tattoos. Knowledge. Rhythm. Spirituality. Sho Hin "Culture and identity is food remembered from childhood." Home. Chosen technology. Environment. Acomplishments. Elders. Children. What you love. Ancestral land. Songs. Road to unity. Understand why you are different first. Ethics. Community. Family stories.

- Friday, February 06, 1998 at 21:18:38 (CST)

Previous response must be credited to all the gang at the grand opening of the fabulous new EMMEDIA in Calgary. Email: emmedia@cadvision.com

- Friday, February 06, 1998 at 21:25:05 (CST)

c) and d)
<wylam@bgnet.bgsu.edu>
- Saturday, February 07, 1998 at 23:34:58 (CST)

sorry this paragraph thing isn't working out. well, I'm itemizing this one: a): this is definitely the only one that is irrelevant; the only 'government' that I'd respect 'ethnic identity authority' from would be one consisting entirely of members of the culture/ethnicity/what-have-you that the subject in question is identifying with. b) and c): with an increasing awareness of child degradation in the world has grown, in me, the belief in the basic premise of adoption - which can easily make blood type/skin colour/etc unrelated to cultural upbringing. However, assuming the utopia in which no couple is going to say "our parents were fucked up, therefore we must teach our child something other than our parents' culture" or "we don't want our children to be subjected to everything our oppressors do to members of our culture, so let's help them assimilate", etc. etc., what the hell am I babbling about, I like what was said before about "learn how you are different first", yes, ideally the young should be taught the truth of where they came from, where their ancestors came from, what their ancestors did, what their ancestors do, and in the case of adoption, I think there's a wonderful tradeoff in mind: rather than the intense privilege/burden of furthering creation with their own physical life and taking responsibility for that kind of work and the accompanying beauty and wonder, adoptive parents of another ethnic identity get to educate their child (and probably themselves) in an additional culture. Language? Hmmm - this is tough. Some of this goes with what I plan to say about diet further on, but I guess what needs to be clarified in this case is whether it is possible to truly express one ethnic identity with a language that is 'inherently foreign' (?) to that ethnicity... I know that there are certain ideas that cannot be expressed in some or many languages, but if the ability to express that with the entire body of language 'native' to a given ethnic identity is necessary to be 'defined' as owning that identity, what about 'genuine' speakers of that language who fit the rest of the profile but never had a need or perhaps even opportunity to express one or more of those ideas? is that possible? maybe not...
<ianus@elwha.evergreen.edu>
- Friday, April 03, 1998 at 02:40:51 (CST)

Religion: hmm. See, I personally would separate this from culture much more definitely than language. It is evident that every culture and every ethnic identity will develop its own 'take' on any given religion that it adopts... religion, as shown in most histories, is also the one factor most likely to, on one hand, be exploited and rhetoricized in order to dehumanize Other ethnic identities, and on the other hand, to cross boundaries and unite anyone with a common belief. Actually, I attribute the one hand to organized religion and the other hand to real spirituality or at least an effort to understand the transcendence of definition in ALL of us. But back to ethnic identity... d) I think personal will is for individual identity, and how you apply that to your beliefs and actions. I don't believe that EVERY 'wannabe' is subconsciously trying to evade 'white guilt' (which, in my opinion, could only be manifest in ancestral guilt that is visited upon us by whatever remnants of memories have truly reached an understanding of the wrongness of oppression and exploitation after having perpetrated it and 'passed on'...); I'm sure that some have much simpler, superficial motives. But I agree that they do their 'home' culture and 'target' culture both a disservice. Regardless, since 'ethnic identity' and 'culture' have been separated in this question, personal will really isn't a factor at all. However, a child of two (or more) distinct ethnic identities should be permitted to synthesize OR choose between them. In that respect, I suppose personal will allows anyone who is not "purebred" ethnically, to establish a NEW ethnic identity (assuming the parents had shared yet kept their EIs separate and not gone ahead and performed the synthesis themselves)... e) not as crazy as I first reacted to it. First I thought, 'does a born-and-raised orthodox Jew who accidentally OR deliberately eats a piece of pig automatically forfeit ethnic identity? not really. I then considered the idea of Islam forbidding alcohol. I wonder whether these dietary laws are really about avoiding spiritual taint, or physical taint, or mental taint, or any of the above... the only indisputable one across the board would be a physical effect. and is ethnic identity enclosed within the human body? no, it takes more than that. actually, the first thing I thought was about whether a Mexican who eats at White Castle is a traitor, or whether all of the latest wave of Thai-food-fiends are all wannabes. After all, there are "genuine" Greeks who will feed anyone their ethnic cooking. Whether one eats what one's elders taught one to make, or how they taught one to eat it, or whether one can even identify all of the dishes devised by one's ancestors, is only a facet of ethnic identity, not a determination, I don't think. Bottom line - this fits under culture and sometimes religion.
<ianus@elwha.evergreen.edu>
- Friday, April 03, 1998 at 03:38:38 (CST)

culture and ideology define ethnic identity, not biology
<mick lawler..turbocat@cats.ucsc.edu>
- Monday, June 08, 1998 at 14:53:02 (CST)

This question is lost on me, because I grew up as a beige kid in south Florida. I guess the government tells me I'm of "White" origin, and my blood is red. My culture? Shit, I wish I had a clearly definable one. I speak English, but am striving to become multi-lingual (it's hard here in USA where they don't care about anyone else's language, and thus don't teach their kids any). Religion? Is anyone in USA religious? My religion is self-worship (and I worship Frank Zappa because he made good music that at one time or another offends everyone, including myself). Will? What, if I want to be of a certain ethnicity, I am? Sure, that's cool. Diet? Jeez, I hope not. American diet is string beans and macaroni and cheese. I'd rather be Mexican, if ethnic identity is diet, because I've never had bad Mexican food.
<Lucas Grzybowski - ltg8986@garnet.acns.fsu.edu>
- Thursday, July 16, 1998 at 13:55:57 (CST)

Culture, Language, and Religion. If you don't act and think american, you aren't.

- Wednesday, August 05, 1998 at 00:46:11 (CST)

Which factors should define your ethnic identity? Reword the question..ie. Which factors do define my ethnic idenity! Which of these 'should'? This is a choice that all indigenous people want to have..and many whites do not even have to think about!! When I hear whites explaining their ethnicity to me- (as an indigenous person) in the same ways people of colour do everyday just to survive, I will respond to this question accordingly.
<Alwinjah.>
- Sunday, August 16, 1998 at 00:15:45 (CST)

Since "ethnic" means foreign, c is the best answer
<jimmy>
- Friday, September 11, 1998 at 23:06:50 (CST)

The development of ethnic identity is not contrained by corporeal time or space. For example, If an individual has been adopted out and has been raised by adoptive parents of another ethnic or even racial background, that individual - at any point in her or his life - can Know the ethnicity from which she/he came because we all carry ancestral memories and we are far more than the sum of our parts (and certainly all and more than the options listed above). Indigenous peoples have always known this, as I believe every race/culture has known at some point throughout the course of history. Likewise, that same adopted child has every capability of becoming a carrier of his or her adoptive cultures most sacred knowledge.

- Saturday, October 24, 1998 at 20:40:53 (CST)

�I. R. 80A� A Treaty IV Art Event �Situation Tobogganists� a street action/performance intervention with Richard Martel In September 1998, a group of local Regina artists collaborated with Richard Martel and Edward Poitras to create a performance intervention to address issues of public art in the context of a larger discussion and historic event, the Treaty IV. Six artists including Martel, Poitras, Greg Daniels, Robin Brass, Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew and Brenda Cleniuk dressed in white tyvek suites and mock-space headsets, concealed umbrellas and dragged six toboggans through the city�s downtown. Each �tobogganist� dragged a piece of sod as a visual reminder of First Nations land claim issues regarding the treaty land area of Regina Beach. The �Situat
<neutralground@dlcwest.com>
- Saturday, November 21, 1998 at 20:39:30 (CST)