"What are you?"

[asterroc]

I recently commented elsewhere on my being half-Chinese and half-Jewish (I'm a goy Hapa!), and someone else asked me about Judaism as a race/ethnicity/culture/religion/nationality. I thought I'd post my response here b/c I wrote it pretty well if I do say so myself. :-P

I haven't gotten this question in a while, thanks for asking! My interpretation could very well be different from others, but this is how I personally identify and explain my feelings about it.

Judaism and Chinese are both cultures. If we talk about race/ethnicity I self-identify as half Asian and half Caucasian, though some others might call Jews Middle Eastern (I think that's sometimes considered a race, but I could be mistaken). If we talk about nationality I am American (I am a US citizen from birth, and both my parents are US citizens) - when people ask me "what" I am, I always reply American and let them stew on that for a bit before answering what they're really asking. :-P

As my father is Jewish and my mother is not (her family is Episcopalian and also follows ancestor worship), I am not considered a member of the Jewish religion unless I choose to convert, but I was raised with the values of Jewish culture. I was not baptized and have never attended services so I am also not Episcopalian, and there is no formal organization to ancestor worship. The religious aspects of Judaism are the easiest to identify, but there are a lot of other values and cultural elements.

Other cultural elements can include what emphasis is placed upon education, personal achievement, career vs. family, community, elders vs. the young, how large a family to have, and so on. For example, both Chinese and Jewish cultures put a large emphasis upon personal achievement (in career and education), but Chinese parents typically want you to focus this on what will bring the most honor to your family (and certain careers bring more honor than others), while Jewish parents typically want you to focus on what will bring the most money to your family and personal happiness.

There's actually a lot of overlap in Jewish and Chinese mindsets - thankfully for me, or I'd be schitzo! :-P

Comments

[rumorofrain.livejournal.com]

Racial and cultural identities are interesting things.

I read the first few chapters of an intriguing book called The Trouble With Diversity, the premise of which is that there is (scientifically speaking) no such thing as race. There are certainly different ethnicities (i.e. groups of people sharing similar physical and genetic characteristics), but skin color or physical features aren't good indications of those relationships. Two black-skinned people from different parts of the world are no more closely genetically related than a black-skinned person and a white-skinned person.

It was an interesting premise, but the author's writing style was so pompous and left so many questions unanswered that I gave up after the first few chapters. For instance, he barely touches on the idea that "racial identities" in this day and age are a reflection of how societies treat people in a certain way because of their appearance or their family members' appearances. (This, of course, extends beyond just racial categories to things like perceived sexual preference or various other kinds of nonconformity.)

I'd like to pick the book up again someday when I have more patience, though. It seemed like an interesting read, even if I didn't agree with everything the guy said.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

My officemate talks about there being no such thing as race biologically, but she never deigns to explain it - you've already said more than her. :-P Even if it is a purely social construct, it IS there socially and is very important (sadly).

[rumorofrain.livejournal.com]

Agreed!