Nationality

Not everyone who is from Russia is Russian.

They could be Korean, or German, or Buryat, or Jewish, or Uzbek. They could be Ukrainian, Latvian, or Armenian.

There is a difference of concepts here that’s under-appreciated.

In the US, citizenship and nationality essentially represent the same thing. You are American because you have the US citizenship. On top of that, there is ethnicity - you could have Italian roots, or you could be Irish. Being Jewish is sometimes a religious thing and sometimes an ethnic thing, and sometimes both. You could be Romani.

So, if you are born in the US, you are automatically American, right?

This does not apply to the rest of the world.

If you are born in Russia, you are not automatically Russian. In the USSR (and, probably, in modern Russia), citizenship and nationality are two different things. The concept of nationality there is more similar to the American concept of ethnicity. You could have Russian citizenship, but your nationality could be, say, Latvian. Or in my family’s case, Jewish (yep, that’s what it said in our official paperwork – my birth certificate had entries for parents’ nationalities).

I don’t think USSR was unique that way,either.*

I suspect that if someone is born in France, that doesn’t mean that everyone accepts them as French, either. Perhaps I am totally wrong, but I do wonder if Romani who are born and live in France are accepted as French? Would some people be referred to as “French-born Albanians, or French-born Romani, or something like that?*

Another example: if you were born in Japan, to American parents, would that make you automatically Japanese? Or would you be perceived as American? Would random people in Japan accept you as Japanese?

It’s not, in itself, good or bad. It is just a difference of perception and a difference of tradition.

But please don’t insist that I am a Russian. Because I was NEVER considered to be Russian when we lived in Russia. Yeah, I know, I may be a bit sensitive there.

(Also, please do not assume that just because I was born in Russia, I am amazing at ice skating or love drinking vodka.).

 

*I could be totally wrong…. Please feel free to correct me.

 

We are all tribal creatures, and there has always been and always will be a tendency to have “us” versus “them”, which may be defined by citizenship, religion, ethnic background, race, political party, or numerous other factors.