View Poll Results: Does how others perceive you ethnically shape how you identify yourself?

Voters
19. You may not vote on this poll
  • Yes. How others perceive me has a direct influence on how I identify.

    4 21.05%
  • No. I identify how I see myself, whether others agree or not.

    15 78.95%
Page 5 of 5 FirstFirst 12345
Results 41 to 44 of 44

Thread: Does how others perceive you ethnically shape how you identify yourself?

  1. #41
    Alma portuguesa Damiăo de Góis's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Last Online
    03-23-2024 @ 09:55 PM
    Meta-Ethnicity
    Romance
    Ethnicity
    Portuguese
    Country
    Portugal
    Y-DNA
    R1b-DF27
    mtDNA
    J1c1
    Gender
    Posts
    22,316
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 13,742
    Given: 3,217

    0 Not allowed!

    Default

    Both my parents have the same background and are both from the same region, as were their parents. That means my identity is very solid in terms of my origins and with who i identify with.
    People don't usually guess my region, as this is something impossible to do in Portugal since regional differences don't exist that much. But some have looked surprised when i say "Alentejo".

  2. #42
    Banned
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    South Jersey
    Ethnicity
    Ukrainian, Italian, Polish
    Country
    United States
    Region
    New Jersey
    Religion
    Christian
    Age
    31
    Gender
    Posts
    1,837
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 1,171
    Given: 1,327

    0 Not allowed!

    Default

    No. I don't think I'm perceived as anything other than a white American. Perhaps by being perceived as an ordinary white American, some would expect me not to have much of an ethnic identity. But for me that's far from the case.

    I don't feel I would need to reject feeling Italian-American in order to feel more Ukrainian. Perhaps for some mixed individuals, there is more of a contradiction. But I just don't feel that way in my case. Suffice it to say that I take matters concerning Ukraine very personally. I don't realistically see anything changing that. And to the extent that I feel there's no contradiction, I appreciate being both.

  3. #43
    Banned
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Last Online
    @
    Location
    South Jersey
    Ethnicity
    Ukrainian, Italian, Polish
    Country
    United States
    Region
    New Jersey
    Religion
    Christian
    Age
    31
    Gender
    Posts
    1,837
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 1,171
    Given: 1,327

    0 Not allowed!

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Wanderer View Post
    No. I don't think I'm perceived as anything other than a white American. Perhaps by being perceived as an ordinary white American, some would expect me not to have much of an ethnic identity. But for me that's far from the case.

    I don't feel I would need to reject feeling Italian-American in order to feel more Ukrainian. Perhaps for some mixed individuals, there is more of a contradiction. But I just don't feel that way in my case. Suffice it to say that I take matters concerning Ukraine very personally. I don't realistically see anything changing that. And to the extent that I feel there's no contradiction, I appreciate being both.
    Obviously, I've reevaluated my ethnic identity a bit, but I don't want to spend too much time talking about that because I already have.

    Although I ethnically identify with my Italian ancestry, there are two main things that perhaps that have impeded this, particularly in the past, and both have to do with with how others perceive me.

    For one, although my direct paternal line is Italian, I don't have a recognizable Italian surname. My great-great-grandafther changed it in order to blend in with the American mainstream (at the time - i.e., the late 1800s). Lately, I've fancied chainging it back to what it was, but the whole name change process is obviously a PITA so I don't know if I ever will.

    Secondly, I don't think I look recognizably Italian. I'm only three-eighths Italian; the rest is Slavic. My facial features are sort of Slavic. Not OVERLY so, but you'd probably guess that before you guessed Italian. My hair is brown, but definitely light brown when properly illuminated.

    Nevertheless, despite these facts, I see identifying as Italian-American as valid. It's just that most people wouldn't necessarily know I was Italian unless I told them. The number of people I tell is a minuscule fraction of the number of people I interact with who may otherwise recognize me as Italian if the two factors I mentioned were different. I can fix my surname, but not my phenotype. LOL. I do find myself wishing I looked more distinctively Italian. But, ultimately, what matters to me is what I actually AM rather than what I look like. So other people's perceptions don't play a decisive role.

  4. #44
    Veteran Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Last Online
    04-09-2019 @ 01:55 AM
    Ethnicity
    Human
    Country
    United States
    Taxonomy
    Dinarid-Atlantid
    Gender
    Posts
    16,536
    Thumbs Up
    Received: 7,248
    Given: 4,031

    0 Not allowed!

    Default

    No not really.

Page 5 of 5 FirstFirst 12345

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. How do you perceive the Ottoman Empire?
    By poiuytrewq0987 in forum Türkiye
    Replies: 99
    Last Post: 08-28-2020, 01:06 PM
  2. How would you perceive him?
    By Sikeliot in forum Taxonomy
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 11-30-2012, 09:21 PM
  3. Who is ethnically Spanish?
    By Comte Arnau in forum History & Ethnogenesis
    Replies: 180
    Last Post: 04-15-2012, 08:53 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •