For those of mixed ancestry

[Creoda]

I suppose I should clarify that I am talking more perhaps about national characteristics, culture, history, or traditions associated with a group that is in your ancestry and if one identifies more with those traits than others.

To use my own case, there is no doubt that in terms of ethnicity, paternal origin, native language, majority ancestry, national origin, and so on, I am most associated with Anglo-America and thus historical England. Despite that I have to say that I might identify more on a philosophical or spiritual level with my Irish and German backgrounds. The Anglo-Saxon traditions of democracy, liberty, equality, empiricism, Protestantism, capitalism, secularism, and the like don't appeal to me as much as a more conservative Catholic traditionalism found among the Irish and some Germans or German Romanticism and idealism or the frankly pagan elements that survived among the Gaels.

In other words, if one accepts that there is such a thing as a general national mentality or attitude or value system, I can't say mine aligns with the English or Anglo-Americans as much. This doesn't equate to dislike though as there are other Anglo traits I find agreeable or admire.

I identify as American. Both sides of my family have been here long enough that I’m a bit disconnected from my roots. My mix doesn’t have much relevance in my daily life. In a bizarre way, I might be more aligned with English traditions that have influenced American culture than my ancestors’ countries of origin.

You both come across to me as very American.

[Gwydion]

You both come across to me as very American.

In what regard? I think there are indeed a few ways I am quite American, some stereotypical and silly (I love burgers bro.) Problem with the category American though is it is a bit broad in regards to the various cultures and peoples here, unless one only thinks of modern mass pop culture. For example a Cajun from Louisiana, an Appalachian of Scots-Irish descent, a Anglo-Vermonter, an Amish from Pennsylvania, a Texan, an African American, and so on are probably all quite different from each other on average in terms of behavior, culture, values, etc.

On the thread topic though, here's an interesting example of a man who isn't even of mixed ancestry but had philosophical or spiritual gripes with his ancestry, Houston Stewart Chamberlain:

After Cheltenham, Chamberlain always felt out of place in Britain, a society whose values Chamberlain felt were not his values, writing in 1876: "The fact may be regrettable but it remains a fact; I have become so completely un-English that the mere thought of England and the English makes me unhappy"

It was only at the age of twenty three in November 1878, when he first heard the music of Richard Wagner—which struck him with all the force of a religious revelation—that Chamberlain became not only a Wagnerite, but an ardent Germanophile and Francophobe.[25][26] As he put later, it was then he realized the full "degeneracy" of the French culture that he had so admired compared to the greatness of the German culture that had produced Wagner, who Chamberlain viewed as one of the great geniuses of all time.[25] In the music of Wagner, Chamberlain finally found the mystical, life-affirming spiritual force that he had been unsuccessfully seeking to find in British and French cultures.[25] Further increasing his love of Germany was that he had fallen in love with a German woman named Anna Horst, and she with him.[27] As Chamberlain's wealthy, elitist family back in Britain objected to him marrying the lower middle-class Horst on the grounds that she was socially unsuitable for him, this further estranged him from Britain, a place whose people Chamberlain regarded as cold, unfeeling, callous and concerned only with money.[27]

Who knows, maybe there's someone out there who is part Russian but dislike Russians? I am just curious to see how people feel about their backgrounds, especially those who have thought about it on a deeper level.

[Vojnik]

I see myself as only Macedonian by ancestry, but i Have a few relatives who ended up on the Greek side of the border who act Greek now. Kind of ashamed of those family members.

[pulstar]

This question would obviously apply to many colonials but also Europeans of mixed ancestry, do you like or identify more with one of your ethnic backgrounds more than the others? If so what and why?

Similarly, is there a part of your ancestry that you might not like or identify the least with? If so what and why?

No. I don't identify with neither of my ancestral groups. I have more in common with the nation I live in, because I share space with them.

[sean]

I identify as American and I like all of my ethnicities but I have a slight preference toward French probably because that is what I look most like.

I noticed you Americans are more hesitant to embrace your roots, your ancestry, compared to here in Canada, for instance.

Here it's more common to hear someone describe themselves as British, or French, or whatever.

In the US, you tend to identify as American more often than not. Yes, the world already knows you are American, if you legally reside there.

Just a small difference I've noticed.

[Chris00009]

Identify as a human being, a free soul, a citizen of the world. Identification affinity with family only. I have ancestry from India to Persian to Turkey &
Balkans.

But don’t embrace any because they have no mean. Don’t identify with specific geographic places either. I appreciate nature and beauty anywhere in the world. People will hate me for being gypsy anyway. .. Don’t see every other Romani as compatriot too.

So .. 100% me

[Vojnik]

I noticed you Americans are more hesitant to embrace your roots, your ancestry, compared to here in Canada, for instance.

Here it's more common to hear someone describe themselves as British, or French, or whatever.

In the US, you tend to identify as American more often than not. Yes, the world already knows you are American, if you legally reside there.

Just a small difference I've noticed.

In some ways, the American mindset of only identifying as American before anything else is a better way of doing things. Australians are like that too mostly. When they are asked what's their background, they'd just say Australian.

[Celestia]

I noticed you Americans are more hesitant to embrace your roots, your ancestry, compared to here in Canada, for instance.

Here it's more common to hear someone describe themselves as British, or French, or whatever.

In the US, you tend to identify as American more often than not. Yes, the world already knows you are American, if you legally reside there.

Just a small difference I've noticed.

It's probably because most of us aren't comfortable enough saying we identify with a culture whose customs we don't know much about. I can't say I culturally identify with any of my ethnicities.
A lot of us are also highly mixed among European ethnicities. You can see on my profile just how much I have, and that's just what I have confirmed with documentation.

[Creoda]

In what regard? I think there are indeed a few ways I am quite American, some stereotypical and silly (I love burgers bro.) Problem with the category American though is it is a bit broad in regards to the various cultures and peoples here, unless one only thinks of modern mass pop culture. For example a Cajun from Louisiana, an Appalachian of Scots-Irish descent, a Anglo-Vermonter, an Amish from Pennsylvania, a Texan, an African American, and so on are probably all quite different from each other on average in terms of behavior, culture, values, etc.

On the thread topic though, here's an interesting example of a man who isn't even of mixed ancestry but had philosophical or spiritual gripes with his ancestry, Houston Stewart Chamberlain:

After Cheltenham, Chamberlain always felt out of place in Britain, a society whose values Chamberlain felt were not his values, writing in 1876: "The fact may be regrettable but it remains a fact; I have become so completely un-English that the mere thought of England and the English makes me unhappy"

It was only at the age of twenty three in November 1878, when he first heard the music of Richard Wagner—which struck him with all the force of a religious revelation—that Chamberlain became not only a Wagnerite, but an ardent Germanophile and Francophobe.[25][26] As he put later, it was then he realized the full "degeneracy" of the French culture that he had so admired compared to the greatness of the German culture that had produced Wagner, who Chamberlain viewed as one of the great geniuses of all time.[25] In the music of Wagner, Chamberlain finally found the mystical, life-affirming spiritual force that he had been unsuccessfully seeking to find in British and French cultures.[25] Further increasing his love of Germany was that he had fallen in love with a German woman named Anna Horst, and she with him.[27] As Chamberlain's wealthy, elitist family back in Britain objected to him marrying the lower middle-class Horst on the grounds that she was socially unsuitable for him, this further estranged him from Britain, a place whose people Chamberlain regarded as cold, unfeeling, callous and concerned only with money.[27]

Who knows, maybe there's someone out there who is part Russian but dislike Russians? I am just curious to see how people feel about their backgrounds, especially those who have thought about it on a deeper level.

As Daco Celtic admitted, you seem quite disconnected from your ethnic roots. If I may say so, many Americans of mixed ancestry also have this tendency to LARP hard.

[Westbrook]

I was raised in a German family, spent time there, had plenty of German friends and everything, but being raised in America I'm just too different from them. I get on much better with other Anglos, but even then there's generally a big difference between us. I don't really value one part more or less than the others either. That stuff doesn't shape my identity as much as it seems to do for a lot of other people.