However, it's not all that uncommon for people with my ethnicity to fill out forms saying they are Pasific Islanders or simply New Zealanders, rather than European.
That's actually the sort of thing I'm trying to avoid, because I've been taught to be sensitive to the fact that when we're discussing ethnicity/race, then the answer really is "our ethnicity is from England" along with family and ancestry -- because otherwise, to say "I'm a native" is to effectively be claiming that one is indigenous. And since the majority of my parent-culture is not Iroquois nor Cherokee but a strongly-originally-UK-influenced one... ugh. I'm explaining this badly, but I just woke up and I need tea.
In the US, you'll often hear people joke, "oh, everyone here is from somewhere else" -- meaning we're a nation of immigrants. I had an Ojibwa friend who pointed out, rather dryly, that no, in fact, her family had been there all along. Even in our jokes and the ways we describe ourselves, white/immigrant US culture erases the people who were here already, so to say one is now fully "native" to the area carries a political meaning that makes me cringe, because it's claiming something I'm not (indigenous status) -- in some ways, on that political level, white america must permanently remain a newcomer, especially if it's to make any amends for its history.
Which is also, I think, part of the reason I find myself trying to pick my way through how to differentiate 'going somewhere empty' versus 'someone was already there' -- err, but with the problem that unless you're the people who were already there, nowhere is really empty when immigrants arrive. But that doesn't stop an awful lot of children of colonialization from insisting the land wasn't owned, or was empty, or was free for the taking -- Australia doesn't even have treaties, for that reason. And plenty of Americans and Europeans will try to argue the same.
...okay I should stop there because now I'm distracting/digressing myself! need tea...
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Date: 15 May 2010 03:33 pm (UTC)That's actually the sort of thing I'm trying to avoid, because I've been taught to be sensitive to the fact that when we're discussing ethnicity/race, then the answer really is "our ethnicity is from England" along with family and ancestry -- because otherwise, to say "I'm a native" is to effectively be claiming that one is indigenous. And since the majority of my parent-culture is not Iroquois nor Cherokee but a strongly-originally-UK-influenced one... ugh. I'm explaining this badly, but I just woke up and I need tea.
In the US, you'll often hear people joke, "oh, everyone here is from somewhere else" -- meaning we're a nation of immigrants. I had an Ojibwa friend who pointed out, rather dryly, that no, in fact, her family had been there all along. Even in our jokes and the ways we describe ourselves, white/immigrant US culture erases the people who were here already, so to say one is now fully "native" to the area carries a political meaning that makes me cringe, because it's claiming something I'm not (indigenous status) -- in some ways, on that political level, white america must permanently remain a newcomer, especially if it's to make any amends for its history.
Which is also, I think, part of the reason I find myself trying to pick my way through how to differentiate 'going somewhere empty' versus 'someone was already there' -- err, but with the problem that unless you're the people who were already there, nowhere is really empty when immigrants arrive. But that doesn't stop an awful lot of children of colonialization from insisting the land wasn't owned, or was empty, or was free for the taking -- Australia doesn't even have treaties, for that reason. And plenty of Americans and Europeans will try to argue the same.
...okay I should stop there because now I'm distracting/digressing myself! need tea...