Heeven, I understand your point completely. I think that this is an American quirk!
I think the quirk is the "Something-or-other dash American...."
Heeven
It kind a boils down to the U.S. being a mixing pot of the World communities. It's like "Cheers"
tee hee - French Kids - well I just used France as an example ...
And a bloody poor and ill-considered example it was, sheesh . . .
want some Freedom fries with that whine?
In all seriousness, there are two things i would point out here. The first is that the title of the thread refers to heritage, and not citizenship.
The other is more complex. When i visited Ireland, and when i briefly resided there, i heard many speak with disgust of American and Australian tourists who were "stressing their connection"--i.e., who said that they were of Irish descent, and were delighted to visit the country. I heard constant expressions of resentment, and i came to realize that the Irish have a rather unique reaction to their cousins whose ancestors settled across the seas. My Italian-American friends uniformly tell me that when they've visited "the old country," they were immediately treated as Italians, welcomed into homes, feted, made much of. And i have seen their Italian relatives who came to America to visit, who were eager to meet other Italian-Americans, whom they invariably referred to as Italian. I've seen the same from Germans and German-Americans. I have a very strong suspicion that the decades during which Ireland was so dependent upon the foreign exchange of tourism, while remaining poor, and seeing well-off American and Australian tourists, have lead to a special, bitter resentment, which often expresses itself by a vehement denial that the Irish-American, or the Irish-Australian, is Irish at all.
Many of us grew up in households which were very Irish indeed, culturally, and my grandparents and greatgrandparents spoke the Erse to one another for privacy, something not all native-born Irish can state with certainty. When first i visited Ireland, it was eerily familiar, in a cultural sense, i knew everyone there already. But the stiff-necked attitude of insisting that tourists of Irish ancestry are not Irish at all was something people went out of their way to comment on.
Such silliness . . .
I think the irish- polish- itialian ect. thing is very common in the new world. In canada, usa, oz or nz eg., it's probably still an issue in the south americas as well. Up here everybody is something else if they know thier heritage or if they care. Otherwise they're just plain old canadian.
When you don't have hundreds or thousands of years of heritage and/or culture most will choose a fall back.
I'm not dissin' my homeland but wheres the culture in beaver, baseball hats and keggers? I live in the west though, people from the east coast - maritimers, have way more to identity with than we have out here. My province is just shy of being 100 years old. So it stands to reason most of us are from away and would identify with our ancestors - most of us aren't that far removed - 1st generation or immegrants generally.
Thanks,
Ceili
I found Galway to be full of raging young 'Merican university students....Dublin too...but in the countryside, the only ire (heh heh) I saw visibly was directed towards Brits.
The Irish website that Setanta introduced several of us to, P45 (wasting time at work), was a revelation to me. One of the rules of the site is that people seeking to discuss their Irish heritage were to go elsewhere. Most of the site members are quite young and they are quite vocal of their dislike of the tourists coming to find themselves in their Irishness. I can't even begin to tell you what a surprise that was.
I'm with Heeven on a lot of this (as I recall, Heeven was born in Ireland, much of her immediate family is still there). hamburger and mrs. hamburger came to Canada from Germany. I was born very shortly thereafter. I am Canadian. I do not consider myself German-Canadian. My interest is in learning about Canada and North America, not at all in learning about German or Europe. My home, and heart, is here.
I be glad to see all nationalities come and if they believe they have Irish in them so much the better. It is good that they love their Irishness
and feel the need to come and try to learn of their ancestors.
both great grand whatevers were from limerick cty, town of adare.
Well, as i've stated so many times, i just wanna lie around in the warm sunshine, wear brightly colored clothing, and sing and dance from time to time. I blame that compulsion on my Irish ancestors. Had they left me an independence, it would have made things considerably easier.
Smokinggunne, thank you for the hospitable offer.
The Americas being so young and still so many of its born here citizens being 1st generation- of course we are going to think differently!
Its probably strange to many outside of the US (and other places feeling the same) since we do seem to seperate our citizenship and heritage to such a great degree, couldnt blame them really.
It has alot to do with growing up here. Its odd when I think of it. "What are you?" is a common question and its just well known that its directed toward heritage, not citizenship. They go on to ask about your family (Italian, Polish, French, whatever) and when your parents or grandparents came here, etc etc.
Its the socialization surrounding our culture that makes it so, and I dont think theres much to change that, but I also dont think its a bad thing all in all.
We are lucky enough to be able to be proud of our heritage and our citizenship seperately and as the whole person we make ourselves to be. We also find that quality in others and grow with seeking out the knowledge in it. I think it is a part of who we are, I find it hard to imagine a time when that wouldnt be true.
Very nicely put, quinn.
I agree that the relative youth of the USA, Canada, Australia, and NZ make a big difference in how people view their heritage. Also the fact that those distant ancestors made such a big change in their lives which has allowed us to become who we are.
Setanta, not entirely true. For many, nothing makes the Irish happier than to have people proud to have Irish blood in their veins.
My point was, I grin when I hear people say the percentage of Irish they are. I had never heard it before leaving Ireland and find it amusing that people actually investigate their backgrounds to come up with a figure to put on it.
And I did say ... "are you really Irish at all if you weren't born there?" and while that might make some blood boil, it's a fair question. I have a friend who states she is Irish. She wasn't born there and has never visited. Her mother was born in Ireland and emigrated to the U.S. with her family when she was a child. Her father is not Irish. She claims (vehemently) that she is as Irish as I am. I simply disagree.
Good point, Boss, i didn't even see any emus in Phoenix Park.
First of all, can we eat emu meat
If so, then there is/was emu farms here a few years ago, one not two miles from where I live, I clearly remember the large birds in the fields, but my feeling is that it hasn't taken off because I never see or hear tell of emu anymore.
What next? 