Penny and her six children
Is there a difference between the terms ‘heritage’, ‘ancestry’, ‘ethnicity,’ and ‘race’ when explaining where you are ‘from’?
‘Ethnicity is based on a group that normally has similar traits, such as a common language, heritage, and cultural similarities.Other variables that play a role in ethnicity include a geographical connection to a particular place, common foods and diets, and perhaps a common faith... Race is similar to ethnicity, but relates more to the appearance of a person, especially the colour of their skin… Nationality refers to the place where the person was born and/ or holds citizenship... Heritage generally refers to the ancestors of a person, and what they identified with...
Culture may involve one trait or characteristic… Identfity is whatever a person identifies with more, whether it be a particular country, ethnicity, religion...’
‘I’m Jamaican and my DNA results have come back as Ghanaian and Dutch, which I don’t understand’
Official forms ask for your current address; birth certificates and passports record where you were born. Where someone was born and lives has a special importance for identity.
So, are my first three children English, British, mixed race, black, white, Jamaican heritage, black British? All, or none? During enslavement, they would have been labelled ‘quadroon’ and during their childhood they were (incorrectly) called ‘half caste’. Black friends might call them ‘light-skinned’. Do these words matter? It is sometimes difficult to know ‘which box to tick’ on forms, and some terms can be fine, or very offensive, in different circumstances. My father-in-law said that the N word was the last thing his friend heard before he was attacked in the street in the UK in the late 1960s.
Example of a typical b lack British family