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9.4: National Heritage

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    240405
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    Ethnic identity can also be tied to an association with an ancestral homeland or an ancestral group. Often, we call this type of ethnic identity nationality. Many Americans use nationality as their preferred marker of ethnicity. Many other Americans cannot even identify their national ancestry. Most of the time in the US, nationality-based ethnicities are expressed by the use of a hyphenated term, such as Chinese-American, Mexican-American, Persian-American, etc.

    It is rare for Americans of European descent to self-identify as “English-American” or “German-American”, even though England and Germany have each been a significant source of migrants. One reason for the erosion of these identities as distinct is the long history of intermarriage between persons of European descent. This process is captured by the partially true myth of the American Melting Pot which suggests that over many generations European national identity has been overwhelmed by a generic American identity. Because Anglo and German migrants were so numerous, many of their cultural norms have become so thoroughly woven into the fabric of American life that together American culture is largely Anglo-German.

    A crowd of soccer fans surrounds a white pickup truck on a street. A news banner at the bottom reads BREAKING NEWS: Police Disperse Soccer Fans.
    Figure 9-10: Huntington Park, CA - Fans of Mexico's men’s national soccer team celebrate in a Los Angeles neighborhood in a display of pride for a nationality-based ethnicity. Source: Daily Mail, UK

    This page titled 9.4: National Heritage is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Steven M. Graves via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.