43 replies to this topic

[Mok]

Just wondering, do you identity closer to your nationality or your ethnicity?

I'm SIngaporean in nationality and Chinese in ethnicity, but I consider myself a chinese first and foremost.

Hope to hear your choices.

[Chris Weimer]

Neither - I'm primarily solitarian, but I identify closer to philsophists and intellects more than anyone else.

[snowybeagle]

My 1200th post. I have been hoping to make it a worthwhile post.

Good question, something which most people from "Old World" countries with a long established history, who were part of the dominant native ethnic group, usually take for granted.

In the past, I would put ethnicity over nationality.

The reason : It was from personal experience when I was originally a national of a large and populous South East Asian country where people of my ethnicity were migrants from afar.

Frustrations, anger, helplessness, bewilderment

Many of those of my ethnicity, compared to the natives, had done well economically. However, we (people of my ethnicity) were not assimilated with the rest of the country. Our skin colour, culture and tradition, as well as the natives' perception of our financial situation in general, made us an easily identifiable minority and a historical scapegoat for all sorts of frustrations and fault-findings.

We were unofficially barred from politics, government, civil service, the police and the military. Our protection come not from the law but from paying protection money to native politicans, government officials, military officers, the police and local headmen.

Despite many being locally-born of the Nth generation of original migrants, and not even being able to write or even speak the traditional language of our ethnic group (and legally barred from having such schools), and having to adopt names in the official language, our official identification documents still marked our origins clearly, and we were treated differently.

At that time, I grew to understand of the restrictions being imposed on me because of my ethnicity. I could never be, and would never be, accepted as a full fledged national. Not all citizens have equal rights and treatment. Not all citizens are made to feel they belong. There are many places we cannot go.

As a child, I didn't fully understand it, but I thought that was how the world was like.
The rest of the country outside our small ethnic community is as alien to us as the America we see in TV from watching Hawaii-Five-O. We may breath the same air, but we don't live in the same world.


A New Start, A Fresh Hope

When my parents brought our family to Singapore because of my father's work - I was finally able learn properly the traditional language of my ethnicity, the culture and the works.

It was then that I decided nationality was just an accident of where one is born, but ethnicity is something one can never change and would be shameful to deny.

I decided that I, not the accident of birthplace, should decide my own nationality.
Having been treated how I was treated, I felt I did not owe the country of my original nationality anything, but instead, IT OWES ME for denying my rights as a national!

I decided that my identity would not be defined by my (original) nationality.
I made up my mind to choose my nationality myself, and drop that original nationality, they can take it and shove it up you-know-where.


The Pendulum swung to the other extreme

Being in multi-cultural Singapore, I was quite comfortable with the identity I am building for myself.
But, as I continue to grow and learn, I also began to see the negative aspects of ethnic pride.

I also read of ethnic groups being persecuted in a country where they are a minority, but also being the persecutors in another country where they are a majority.

I also began to realise why nationality is important, and in crisis (war, famine, plague, earthquake, riots, invasion etc), ethnicity has no place in one's choices and reponses. The only thing that supercede nationality and ethnicity as the basis of making decisions is humanity.

As I began to gain some maturity in being a Christian, I also questioned the rightful role/place ethnicity (and also nationality) has in (my) life.


Myself, today

Today, I still feel pride in my ethnicity, in the way that I feel everyone should be proud of their own ethnicity, regardless of the bad things that might have been done in the past related to ethnic pride (E.g., Chinese/Japanese should feel proud of being Chinese/Japanese, but not be proud of the misery caused by Chinese/Japanese invading other people).

There must be ONE way, a common ground, that an ethnic-Chinese of Singapore, of USA, and of China, can be proud of their ethnicity without nationalism or superiority complex.

I also feel pride in my chosen nationality, despite being thoroughly disgusted with many of the politicians in the government or the boorish behaviour of my fellow nationals.


Conclusion : Ethnicity and nationality.

One is my heritage, and someday, I too will be part of that heritage which my children will receive.

The other is about the place I call home.

[ahbian]

Just wondering, do you identity closer to your nationality or your ethnicity?

I'm SIngaporean in nationality and Chinese in ethnicity, but I consider myself a chinese first and foremost.

Hope to hear your choices.

good question. in my case, i also chose ethnicity. why? i was born in malaysia, moved to singapore at an early age, did my uni education and work in the west. in all, i lived in mal, sing, us, uk, hk, jp and oz (more than half of it in Singapore though). i used to be a singapore PR and had spent most of my life there than in any other nation but i'm identifying less and less with her as the years go by, and even much less with my country of birth. (where ironically i spent very little of my life). all this make me seem old, but i'm actually just 24. and as i recently started to contemplate switching my citizenship, nationality seems too changeable to me. the interesting thing is that it was only when i was overseas (esp. in the West) for a significant amount of time that i was more aware of my chinese ethnicity and culture. before that, in singapore, i didn't give a second thought to my 'chineseness', i identified with being a local and that was that. i don't know exactly how or when the scale tipped to the ethnicity side, but it prolly started in the States.
some singaporeans i know like to see themselves as citizens of the world,
and think in a global sense. i used to think so myself. and then i remember reading a column in the straitstimes. it said something like, a citizen of the world is really nobody's child, or a B******, to put it harshly.

i may be a B****** but at this point, i identify more with my ethnicity.

[TMPikachu]

I wonder why some Chinese hate each other. Some people say bad things about people from Sichuan. Some Cantonese treat you like dirt if you're not one of them and a friend of mine was not allowed in a bar cuz he was not Canton.

Big threats make people come together

Like in Independence Day, all the nations of the world work together because Aliens will kill us all.

I figure... alien invasion is really the only thing that would get humanity united.

[qrasy]

Overseas Chinese usually they prefer the ethnicity, because they are very different from native people there.

[Sun Wukong]

Both are just as important for me. I'm Chinese in nationality and Han Chinese in ethincity.

[Caidanbi]

Good question! I'm US for nationality, but for ethnicity I'm a lot of things. I'd say they are of equal importance to me.

[ckyeah]

i voted neither becoz ppl should come together without boundary of ethnic, race, country and religion.

but..
in a sense is ethnicity identified me more of coz since im a chinese. im a teochew but i know ntg about teochew coz my father nvr told me anything about teochew.

[Pingpong]

"Ethnicity" is in, "nationality" is out, "race" is faux pas. Is this the case?

[Borjigin Ayurbarwada]

Ethnicity means zero for me. Unless you are including culture as part of ethnicity but Nationality still overweigh it, since I would just adapt unless I hate certain part of the culture.
In fact to me the regime weigh more than ethnicity, the PRC is more important to me than what ethnicity I am.

[SleepingDragon]

I dislike my nationality, but I like my ethnicity for the most part.

[Insignificant]

I live in Canada, but I never considered myself Canadian.
I was born in Korea, but I no longer consider myself Korean.

The answer is pretty clear.

[aria]

Neither. I don't feel a stronger kinship with either people from the same ethnicity or the same nationality than with others. But the environment where you grow up must be: I'm pretty sure my answer is influenced by the fact that in my hometown, a majority of people are foreigners, and from various countries.