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Overnight Open Thread

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iossarian4/25/2011 11:40:49 am PDT

re: #444 marjoriemoon

I can’t answer your question. It’s like saying, what’s the difference between an Italian raised in Italy or one raised in NY.

An “Italian” raised in New York is not an “Italian” unless she has citizenship in Italy, she is an “American of Italian descent” or whatever you want to call her.

Or rather, I should say that Italians-who-are-citizens-of-Italy do not think of Italians-who-are-Americans-but-call-themselves-Italians as “Italians”.

I think that mixing ethnic or religious group membership with nation-state citizenship is immensely problematic (I think that nation-states themselves are problematic, but many of the problems are largely neutralized by eliminating ethnic and religious criteria for membership).