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Do you ever feel "not enough" of a nationality, specifically people of multiple cultural influences? (thelemmy.club)

submitted 23 hours ago by may_be@thelemmy.club to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So I don't know my exact PERCENTAGE of Norwegian in me, but I consider myself to be Norwegian-American due to a bit of my upbringing. I feel connected to Norway and the language, I wanna learn more about it, and my dad raised me to think of not only Old Norse and the mythology, which is old stuff because he's kind of nerdy with the ancient Viking stuff, but also wanted me to learn the Norwegian language and go to Norway some day with me.

I don't know why, I can't really explain it, but I do feel Norwegian and it's not like I'm "trans-identifying" as a certain nationality like some people do, I have a reason for it.

However, I wasn't born in Norway. I wasn't raised in Norway. I was raised with pride of being American with Norwegian ancestors, that was it, but whatever. I took more of an interest in the language when I was about 9. I can sort of understand Norwegian and read it sometimes, maybe it's because it's kinda close to English though, mainly. I don't particularly look "purely" Norwegian or Scandinavian either, I mostly look English due to being mixed with English and German.

I consider myself a bit German-American due to being raised by a German grandfather, even if he's not blood related to me. But my mom had recent relatives who came from Germany and recent relatives spoke the language and all that, she just didn't grow up with it nor did my Grandpa.

Well, that's why I get highly happy when I think about how I was raised to be proud of and respect mostly Norwegian culture, but I don't feel Norwegian enough due to not natively speaking it [though I did grow up with Norwegian YouTube learning videos :,)] and not looking or growing up with pure Norwegian genes.

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[–] Taco2112@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

I don’t have a quick answer to your question but as someone who was born in America with a family that celebrates our Scotch-Irish heritage, I have a view/opinion on this topic that might be of some use to you.

The way I see it, people have two types of heritage, ethnic heritage and cultural heritage.

In my long winded explanation, Norwegian is your ethnic heritage, ethnic heritage has to do with your family and where they come from. The best way I can describe it is, a blend of where your family originated from plus the traditions that they still hold on to. Ethnic heritage is more rigid and unchanging.

Cultural heritage is more flexible, it’s influenced by where you grew up and where you currently live. It’s influenced by your friends and the types of media or leisure activities that you all enjoy.

Caveat: This is just an opinion that I’ve been toying around with, it’s not a fully fleshed out idea that I have any empirical evidence to back any of this up. I am open to constructive criticism that will help hone this mess of ideas into something more poignant.