In my travels all over the globe one thing has truly astonished me. That one thing is a strong tie to ones ancestry roots.
What i am talking about is how a person can be Canadian, Australian, Thai, Indonesian, Malay or any nationality yet should their roots reach back many generations to say China, India or Africa they have a very stong and passionate alliegance to that culture, to that ethnic base, even to that country. This can be even if they have never even been any where near that country of their roots.
In the USA Black Americans have for many years been referring to themselves as African Americans. In Asia you hear cultural titles by say a Thai with Chinese roots being described as Chinese Thai or the same in Indonesia. With Malaysia your hear those with Indian ancestry roots being called Indian Malay.
Now I have some ancestry roots that lead back to England. My mother was English and on my father’s side we go right back to the first English convicts sent to Terra Australis ( Australia ) Yet I do not call myself English Australian. I am very proud to be just Australian.
So what makes the roots of Africa, China or India so strong? I for one do not have an answer.
The African Americans claim it is because they were stolen from Africa and taken to America as slaves. But the Indian and the Chinese in the main were not. Yet they feel ties back generations to the countries of their heritage.
So i ask is it a genetic tug? I am no scientist so this i can not even begin to discuss with any knowledge. Is it a racial tug? Certainly African Americans look different to white Americans, in Asia you can certainly pick the locals who are of Indian or Chinese decent. Or is it something like the tug of an emotional heart? Certainly the heritage of generations is romanticised and justly so.
But why is it that their Ancestral Roots have a stronger calling than say mine and tens of thousands of English who colonised for mother England?
The answers I do not have but next time you are travelling have a look around and you will see this definite distinction in these cultures. Maybe you will see the answer that I seek. Maybe you will blog the answer and maybe that will settle a few million souls, feeling torn between two cultures.
