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I hate to butt in, but this is funny. Draculina describes herself as French/Dutch with some North African (if I recall) heritage, so I have no idea why she herself does not describe herself as “English”. Just saying.
I hate to butt in, but this is funny. Draculina describes herself as French/Dutch with some North African (if I recall) heritage, so I have no idea why she herself does not describe herself as “English”. Just saying.
Iberian (North African influence) / Scandinavian genetically.
French / British legally.
English / British culturally.
It is my culture that I am refering to when I call myself English.
I don’t think that’s so hard to understand.
Like I said I am not butting in. Got the giggles though. But… there is no bigger picture, there is no conspiracy, there is no smoking gun on a grassy knoll. It is a British cultural term and the norm, to describe ones self as “British Asian”.
Hugs*
To be “English” is a very complex affair. To be “English” means to be born in England to 2 “English” born parents who in turn are descendents of a long line of “English” born parents, who in turn are descended from a very subtle mixture of Italian Roman, Danish Jute and Viking, German Anglo- Saxon, Norwegian Viking, native Celt, French Norman, and others such as internal British interbreeding between the Scots, Welsh, Irish, and “English”
England is Angleland, Anglia, Land of the Angles, named by the Anglo Saxons, so as Anglo Saxons, we are actually Germans with a bit of French, Italian, Danish, Celtish and Norwegian thrown in. Few can claim to have this background. Thus, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the 2nd is often referred to as German because she can trace her family back 1500 years ago to Anglo Saxon invaders.
The term English is a very broad and complex term that is very much subject to interpretation, and misinterpretation.
Iberian (North African influence) / Scandinavian genetically.
I dont see how English is your culture if you are born as a foreign national, citizen and resident. I assume English will not be your mother tongue, and you was raised in a foreign country with a different language, customs and culture, did you not adopt any of these ? did you renounce them when you came to live in England? Yes you have elements of English culture in you, as (I assume) a long term resident, but you must surely have also elements of culture from your home country and language. I’d say your cultures are mixed, and therefore that mixture prevents you from having exclusively an English culture.
May I ask which country you were born and raised in ? and how old you was when you moved to England ? and how long ago you moved to England?
What is English culture anyway, can it really be defined in black and white, a hotpotch of cultures cutesy of a seafaring nation, that once had an Empire and the “curry” became a national dish.
May I ask which country you were born and raised in ? and how old you was when you moved to England ? and how long ago you moved to England?
I was born in France, I was adopted by an English family at age 5. When I was 7 we moved to England, I learned to speak English then.
I can speak French, but I rarely use it.
I spent a few months in Sweden when I as 20, other than that I have lived in England for most of my life.1 member liked this post.
Then I would say your culture is much more English than it first seemed, with a small mixture of French culture
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What is English culture anyway, can it really be defined in black and white, a hotpotch of cultures cutesy of a seafaring nation, that once had an Empire and the “curry” became a national dish.
I can attempt to answer.
In the words of anthropologist E.B. Tylor, culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.
or
“that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of societies in England.
Tapioca.
Thanks, I do enjoy your posts because they take me outside my comfort zone and give me food for thought. A view of the world I recognize but am not familiar with. I would probably argue English culture in the UK is largely driven by class and divided on class lines and what the working class would consider “normal” would be poles apart from what the middle class consider “normal” and so on.
To go back to the initial point, “should Muslims integrate” is not in my opinion, driven by English culture at all, that sense of belonging and fitting in, but rather by a political class and an aristocratic land owning class etc, all with an ulterior motive. That motive being, that while the proletariats, the peasants, are squabbling over the cultural scraps thrown their way, clinging on to “God save the Queen” and “jellied eels” and bickering over whether a particular group is culturally “English” enough or not, while public libraries are being closed down, the poor are being culturally denied access to a good education and culturally brainwashed into becoming compliant drones to serve the much more culturally diverse (in an academic sense) ruling and political class.
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