What are you?

[i-need-a-martini]

I was just watching Hannah Gadsbys (brilliant!) show on the ABC on Australian Art and they brought up some interesting ideas about indigenous culture. It was particularly interesting given the debate on Q&A last night about Bolts "white aborigines" tirade.

So how many generations can pass before you shed your culture? 

I am a first generation Italian and my kids are second generation. But we all call ourselves Italian if asked what culture we are. I imagine my grand and great grand kids will also refer to their Italian culture. Not sure beyond that.

My husband embraces his dads Canadian culture and his mothers Englishness. Yet his mothers ancestors came out from England in the early 1900s. Can he still really claim that his culture is English?

How would you relate your culture if asked what your background is?

[cherry*135]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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@am*3 wrote:

We don't really have a 'culture' & traditions though?  People of English/UK descent?

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English people do - I hear it from my husband all the time. From simple things like setting a table for dinner to major things like language.

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It is still the English language though, which is the language of this country.

[i-need-a-martini]

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@punch*drunk wrote:

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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@azureline** wrote:
No. As far as I know we have no aboriginal ancestry. Just boring English ones.

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Then your background is English and you still label it English even though 5 generations have passed?

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And what about the 5 generations before that, or the 50? How far back do we have to go before we pick one? Not forgetting the further back you go, the more races/nationality's there is to choose from....do we just pick the one that there is the most of?

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But that is what I am asking.

At what point do you stop being one culture and become another?

Is it only as far back as you remember? Ie if your grandmother is Russian then you still have a living reminder of your culture and your background. So chances are you would answer "Russian" if someone asked about your 'background'.

[poison_ivys_pen]

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@punch*drunk wrote:

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

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@azureline** wrote:
No. As far as I know we have no aboriginal ancestry. Just boring English ones.

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Then your background is English and you still label it English even though 5 generations have passed?

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And what about the 5 generations before that, or the 50? How far back do we have to go before we pick one? Not forgetting the further back you go, the more races/nationality's there is to choose from....do we just pick the one that there is the most of?

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That is kind of where I was going with one of my previous posts as well Punch, how far back would we have to say which one is our 'background'

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@i-need-a-martini wrote:

Then perhaps the answer is that we stop referring to our culture once we forget where we came from?

Or simply when we have lost (or chosen to lose) our links to specific cultures?

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Mr Elephants ancestors were convicts - I suspect most of them were quite happy to lose their links to Old England.

[poison_ivys_pen]

I think most of a first or second generation Australian would identify their background as the most prominent of the parents or parents before them, so it's natural in that sense like your own Martini to say which it is rather than firstly considering Australian as your background.

[i-need-a-martini]

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@poison_ivys_pen wrote:

Martini, one of my Uncles is a first generation Australian his parents were Italian, he considers himself Australian has always been, speaks no Italian save a few words and a couple of phrases and that is mainly due to his Father having a belief they were in Australia and the language is Enlish that we speak so that is what would be spoken, he said both his parents didn't speak Italian in front of him or his brother.  He has been to Italy a couple of times to visit family there.

I think at some point down the descendent line they would simply say of 'Italian' descent and identify as Australian.  We do have an Aussie culture which is some of it's own making and parts thereof British mixed in.

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I am exactly like your uncle. I speak no Italian. Other than the swear words...

I am Australian (of course I am - I was born here and I can stomach vegemite lol) but my background is still Italian. That heritage shows through in my attitudes, my style, my tastes, my relatives etc.

But I AM an Aussie.

[azureline**]

No convicts for me. I was very disappointed. I thonk I still identifu as australian. I never met any rellies that were born outside Australia

[azureline**]

Woops. Sorry for spelling errors

[i-need-a-martini]

You had too much to drink az lol?

Thonk? Identifu?

[poison_ivys_pen]

Not knowing enough of the Italian culture I can't say my Uncle is like that with respects to style and taste he's more aussie I think even down to his name, neither he or his brother have Italian names though he has always gone by a nickname that is slang Italian I think.