Per my comment on the Age and Gender of Zoochatters thread, I have created an ethnicity poll/thread. Try not to get ticked off as I have pretty much ripped off the U.S. Census on this one, with a few of my own twists. I figured this was the simplest way to do this. Please mention what country and/or region your ancestors are mostly from in the thread if you feel comfortable. If some of your background is a mystery to you that is fine, don't worry. Also if you are more than one ethnicity please explain (for example you might be half European and Half Native American, or you could have an ethnic background from a number of countries). Also, we will define ethnicity as "what ethnicity do you consider yourself to be?"
I chose two or more. I am Australian Aboriginal. Middle Eastern, Native American. All over powered by my Irish mother.
My turn! I am a hodgepodge of different ethnicities. First, I have a Polish grandparent but my mother thinks that we might have gotten some German and Jewish as well (I must have one of those fancy DNA tests someday). I also have a mixed French Canadian and Mohawk Indian grandparent. Oh, and she also part Scottish. More Scottish, Irish, and Welsh (we think, I don't know a lot about some of my ancestors due to a domestic violence situation which led to a divorce and subsequent I hope it will be permanent estrangement from my violent father) all by way of Eastern Canada (some of my ancestors were United Empire Loyalists, we don't really talk about them).
You research questions is "What Ethnicity do you consider yourself to be?". I probably consider myself to be something totally different to what I actually am.
Well it is very hard to define ethnicity in the first place, so really asking people what they think they are is the easiest way to do it. Besides, in my opinion ethnicity is learned, not innate (in my book if you were raised by an ethnicity, you are that ethnicity. This is central to my French Canadian ethnicity incidentally, where adoption and intermarriage with other cultures is/was extremely common. Or at least it is that way with French Canadian Americans).
Predominantly English by way of Canada circa 1890, with a bit of Irish, Scottish, Micmac, and Jewish-Dutch mixed in. More frequently Irish as the 20th rolled along to an even half by my birth. All American! I have cousins and nieces and nephews who can add Italian, English, Korean, German, Dutch, Québécois, French, Irish, Spanish, Mexican, Cherokee, Navaho, and genuine Alaskan Eskimo to the stew. We are browning up nicely.....
I'm White/Caucasian Swedish/Scandinavian/European with genes from Wallonia people (people from south Belgium) from around 400 years ago.
I´m your typical Central European hodgepodge. On one side a mix of Czechs and Sudeten Germans. On other side a mix of Hungarians, Slovaks and old Moravians.
Might just me being a bit picky here but I don't think Australian Aboriginals and Pacific Islanders should be grouped together.....
These things always strike me as a bit dodgy, personally I think that a persons cultural associations are far more relevant than their ancestry. The genetic variations that cause the differences of skin colour and physical features these sort of classifications rely on are so minute as to be negligible. I am confused by this "Latino" thing though. Does it refer to South Americans of Spanish or Portuguese heritage, in which case they would be European, thus "white". Or does it refer to the product of a South American "melting pot" in which case reference to South American native Americans (and indeed black South Americans) would seem redundant. Just an observation from a confused outsider. By the way it would be seen as extremely offensive to refer to an Aboriginal Australian as a "Pacific Islander" (who if we are to be technical belong to two distinct ethnic/cultural groups anyway).
100 % Dutch ( = White European in your poll ). Did some family-tree research and over the last 200 years all my roots are from the Netherlands.
Hispanic - Culturally native Spanish speakers outside of Spain Latino - specifically Hispanic American culture of mostly native descent Hispanic People can be of any race/descent (White, Native, mixed) It is a highly variable ethnic/cultural group than anything. You have many other terms as well like Tejano ie native hispanics in Texas. Any American subculture is going to have a high degree of cultural syncretism. Obviously being Southern I see more ready examples of it in the South but the examples exist all over. The Southern subcultures all contain a grab bag of White, Native, and African subcultures in some way. Be that Cajun/Creole, Tejano, or whatever.