Ethnicity and Nationality are Not the Same Thing

by Kristal Lin

Growing up, I’ve had more than a handful of my peers come up to me and ask me if I was Chinese, and then follow up by asking where I was born in China, assuming my ethnicity and nationality. I’m sure that asian subgroups like east asians have been asked these questions a few times in their lifetime. At first it seemed normal, and I would tell them that yes, I am chinese but I was born in America. As I got older and people still asked me these questions, I started to wonder why others didn’t understand that a person’s ethnicity and nationality don’t necessarily have to be related. Even grown adults come up to me and ask me these kinds of questions. Although they probably asked out of politeness, it bothered me and I started to lose a sense of belonging. So I concluded that we should be educated on the difference between the two concepts so misunderstandings won’t happen in the future.

There is quite a big difference between a person’s ethnicity and nationality, but the distinction is a simple one. Ethnicity refers to one’s cultural background, but is often overlapped with their race. There is also a gap between those two concepts too. Race is used to sort people based on their physical appearance, like the color of their skin. Keep in mind that people of the same race do not have to be of the same ethnicity. Nationality is often associated with ethnicity because people around the world wish for their ethnic group to be recognized as an independent nationality. In simple terms, nationality refers to one’s citizenship, though this might not be true in all countries, it’s best if we ourselves use the term correctly. For example, I am asian, chinese, and I was born in America. I just listed my race, ethnicity, and nationality in one sentence.

Now, are questions asking about one’s race or ethnicity inherently offensive? No, as long as they were merely triggered by curiosity. We are more than happy to share and educate people about our wide variety of cultures, but we sometimes lose ourselves in these questions. People like to belong. That’s why we have communities, towns, cities, countries, and clubs, etc. At the same time, we boldly assume a person’s nationality based on their race. Instead of pinpointing a specific location, we should start using, “Where were you born?” This way of asking is simpler, more general and sounds much more casual.

Ethnicity and nationality. Nationality and ethnicity. These two terms are not hard to distinguish or to understand, but I believe that we need to be more cognizant of how they are used. We should be taught about the differences in class from a young age so that these mistakes can be avoided in the future generations.