Questions of Identity

[Guest Kopfkino]

I can’t be doing with the high-status flaccid bollocks of identifying as human as espoused by @leicsmac (I mean it kindly). I’ve got more in common with my dogs than my neighbour but I’m not gonna start identifying as mammalian as a result.

 

But I think such an answer speaks to my lack of sense of identity. At uni, surrounded by way more international students than Brits, I used to have a healthy sense of Britishness but that’s subsided to nearly nothing since leaving, I feel you do lose identity when constantly surrounded by people of the same identity. Certainly don’t have any other geographical sense of identity. I guess LCFC also used to provide some identity, particularly when I used to go every week but not being able to do that took it from me a bit. Around the title win it was pretty strong, it was a badge of honour but since I stopped going every week and as the fan base turns into a BTEC Everton, I feel it’s an interest rather than part of me.

I do envy these people with a strong sense of (healthy) identity, be it sense of place, around their sexuality, political feeling, religion etc. Things feel a bit aimless and lost without it.

[leicsmac]

3 hours ago, Kopfkino said:

I can’t be doing with the high-status flaccid bollocks of identifying as human as espoused by @leicsmac (I mean it kindly). I’ve got more in common with my dogs than my neighbour but I’m not gonna start identifying as mammalian as a result.

 

But I think such an answer speaks to my lack of sense of identity. At uni, surrounded by way more international students than Brits, I used to have a healthy sense of Britishness but that’s subsided to nearly nothing since leaving, I feel you do lose identity when constantly surrounded by people of the same identity. Certainly don’t have any other geographical sense of identity. I guess LCFC also used to provide some identity, particularly when I used to go every week but not being able to do that took it from me a bit. Around the title win it was pretty strong, it was a badge of honour but since I stopped going every week and as the fan base turns into a BTEC Everton, I feel it’s an interest rather than part of me.

I do envy these people with a strong sense of (healthy) identity, be it sense of place, around their sexuality, political feeling, religion etc. Things feel a bit aimless and lost without it.

It's funny because the biggest reason I tend to go in for thinking I'm first and foremost an ape in a sharper suit is exactly this. There is no sense of identity that I really feel beyond being part of a species and wanting to keep that species going, really (except for 90 or so minutes when the whistle blows at LCFC, that is, but I'm not sure how much that counts by itself).

[Nick]

Identity for me isn’t really about where I’m from in terms of being white or English or British. I’m not happily attached to being any of those things really!

 

 

[Sir Shep]

I’ve always seen myself as white British, I mean that’s the boxes I’ve always ticked! 

 

Just on a side note now my curiosity is being tickled, what’s a good DNA test kit to buy as I’ve noticed lots on amazon at varying prices?

[Webbo]

46 minutes ago, Sir Shep said:

I’ve always seen myself as white British, I mean that’s the boxes I’ve always ticked! 

 

Just on a side note now my curiosity is being tickled, what’s a good DNA test kit to buy as I’ve noticed lots on amazon at varying prices?

I had an Ancestry 1. I should imagine they're all similar. 

[Alf Bentley]

1 hour ago, Sir Shep said:

I’ve always seen myself as white British, I mean that’s the boxes I’ve always ticked! 

 

Just on a side note now my curiosity is being tickled, what’s a good DNA test kit to buy as I’ve noticed lots on amazon at varying prices?

 

I had an Ancestry one, too.

 

I imagine there are others available that are cheaper - just checked and Ancestry kit seems to be £59 at the moment.

Whether the info from cheaper options is as good or reliable, I've no idea. Might be better value if you're not too bothered about detail/accuracy and just want a general idea for a bit of fun.

 

The Ancestry one seemed good to me. For a start, they've done a truly massive number of such tests globally, so that should help the accuracy of their data.

 

The one that I took accurately connected me to very precise locations where I knew we did have family connections (particular parts of an Irish county, even a particular part of a peninsula).

It also accurately connected me to other family members who'd taken a test - ranging from close family to unknown 4th cousins in the USA (accuracy confirmed via family history research).