<p>Comic relief here: I once heard a story about a young child who asked his parents, “Where did I come from?” but they didn’t quite understand the question. They launched into a 2 hour “here are the facts of life” lecture. The kid, amazed, shook his head and said, “Wow. That’s crazy. Jimmy comes from Detroit!” :)</p>
<p>Backtracking to Pyewacket’s inquiry into how neighborhoods are described in various regions of the country, I know from growing up in Baltimore that
there was an important bond of nostalgia between younger generation immigrants moving to the edges of the city, admiring the more urban ethnic neighborhoods their parents still lived in. My Dad, who worked downtown, would have a business lunch with a Greek friend, so off they went to nearby Greektown. If the lunch was with an Italian, the other guy would want to go to “Little Italy,” as the neighborhood was called; stop in on his parents and then settle in to a good restaurant nearby. My Dad and his colleagues were by then living at the edge of the city, or beginning to push into the suburbs (l960). </p>
<p>For a while I had a job in an Italian restaurant in Boston’s North End. The young woman running it with her brothers was devastated to have been widowed young and had to move back from the suburbs to the North End where she grew up. She often commented how strange she found her new suburban neighbors, saying that when she lived in the North End, there were the Irish people and Polish people living not far away in their tight neighborhoods, but she didn’t know a single one of them. Now in the suburbs everyone lived “much further away” (quarter acre lots, not row houses) and yet were all getting to know each other. She was enjoying all the mix-it-up and didn’t like the return to the North End at all. It represented a huge economic backslide in her life as a widow; quite sad.</p>
<p>Stickershock, thankyou! The idea of DNA being used to pinpoint one’s ancestry is incredible, that they can go back so very far, with nothing more than a few skin cells is fantastic. I wonder what it costs. Wow!..wouldn’t that be something? I’ll check into that.</p>
<p>“I believe that you probably have a more intense and deeply rooted family history than I or many other immigrants do.” </p>
<p>A history that cannot be known is as good as a blank page. Just because my family may have been here for centuries, it doesn’t mean I would automatically have a sense of deep rootedness. Sure, I know the collective history of black Americans in this country, but I know only a very little about my own family history. For some of us, this is important. Obviously for you, it’s not.</p>
<p>Many European immigrants threw off their history, language and traditions like a ratty garment, not cherishing what they had. But many of their great great grandkids want some of that back, and are actively seeking it. I say, good for them. It gives a deeper context to their American experience, and more importantly, gives them a greater sense of who they are.</p>
<p>I don’t cherish my lineage. I find it interesting and want to know about it but that’s about it. I have much more in common with my co-workers, neighbors, fellow CC members, and random people in stores than I do people in countries my ancestors came from.</p>
<p>Excellent point. I really love history. While my family lineage can only be search back about 100 years, even that isn’t that important to me. I do love studying ancient civilizations, cultures, etc… but there is nothing from the past that can really affect my life today. Except of course that mankind learns from the past so we hopefully don’t repeat mistakes and travesties. If someone did do some research on my family history and discovered some famous person or such that i am related to, that would be cool but not really affecting me in any way. Unless of course I am heir to some fortune or something.</p>
<p>I’ve lived/worked in 14 countries. I find them very interesting. From South/Central America, to Europe, the middle east, and even North Africa. They are all wonderfully exciting places. But none of those places are my home. None of them are my culture. None of them are my future. I guess for someone who immigrated during their lifetime where they actually lived someplace else, it would mean a lot more. But there isn’t anything about the countries where my ancient relatives came from that affects me.</p>
<p>Chicago 20 years and we knew everyone’s ethnicity. Part of the reason was because of the huge immigrant history with different groups settling into certain areas, so neighborhoods were ethnically divided. And yes, there was prejudice with some groups not wanting their kids to intermarry - i.e. Italian and Polish. </p>
<p>Canada 5 years - again we knew ethnicity. (Montreal area) with the English and French. Other groups were OK. And even though the English that I knew didn’t seem to care if their kids married non-French, the French did. Yet, as time went on, many English (non-French) moved from the area.</p>
<p>Houston, now San Antonio - We did not know everyone’s ethnicity, but because parts of this State were settled by different ethnic groups, we did know that about many of our friends. German (huge presence here) and Polish, (proud of first Polish settlement in US) especially. And hispanic was always there, as well, as is being a gringa.</p>
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<p>It’s not so accurate as the companies selling the DNA services would have you believe. They’ll give you an answer - pinpoint your ancestry to some certain location, but another company looking at the same DNA very likely will give you a different answer.</p>
<p>I read a paper in a scientific journal a couple of years ago with a huge genetic survey of all of Europe, and the only populations that could be distinguished at the DNA level from the generic European backgound were Basques, Sardinians, Greeks, and Finns. All the other nationalities were indistinguishable from each other. Which is not surprising given all the centuries of invasions and migrations.</p>
<p>The situation might be little better in Africa. Humans have lived in Africa far longer than they have in Europe, and thus Africans show a lot more genetic heterogeneity with a greater chance of localized variations. But I still think those companies are claiming way more than then can actually deliver. IMO they are preying on African Americans’ underdstandable desire to reconnect with their roots that were taken away from them.</p>
<p>I traveled to Nigeria with a group of medical students at Howard in 84. The Nigerians questioned whether we were really Black, I imagine because most of us were lighter than most of them. Most intriuging was when I was told I looked like someone from Cameroon.</p>