--- Chuck Grimes <cgrimes at rawbw.com> wrote: I imagine similar and related conflicts over assimilation going on in the FSU (as described by Chris Doss). ---
Here's a couple of anecdotes to illustrate things. Back when I was living in the States, I was dating a woman from Russia (which is sort-of why I'm in Russia today -- it's a long story), an economist at the World Bank. She would have arguments with Americans that went like this:
Her: "I am a German, from Russia."
Them: "That makes no sense. You have a Russian passport. You have a Russian name. You speak Russian. You can't even speak German. That means you are a Russian."
Her: "No no no, I am a Volga German. My ancestors moved to Russia 200 years ago. Stalin deported my grandparents. Look, here it is in my passport: 'citizen of the Soviet Union, nationality German.'" (She still had a Soviet passport back in 1997.)
Or alternatively, a former coworker of mine, a young American woman, was dating an Avar guy (one of the Dagestani Muslim nationalities. Their constant argument ran like this:
"You have a Russian passport and you speak Russian. Therefore, you are a Russian."
"No I am not. I am an Avar. Russians are Slavs. Look at my face."
Nu, zayats, pogodi!
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com